Deliveroo has bowed to pressure from parliament and made changes to its contracts for riders.
The takeaway delivery business, which relies on 15,000 self-employed couriers, has removed a clause that banned couriers from challenging their self-employed status before an employment tribunal.
The new supplier agreement, which is now only four pages long, allows couriers to work for other companies at the same time as they work for Deliveroo and has removed a clause stating that riders needed to give two weeks’ notice to terminate their agreement with the delivery company
The Work and Pensions Committee had labelled contracts offered by Deliveroo and others such as Uber to be “unintelligible”. Frank Field, the Labour MP who chairs the Work and Pensions Committee, had described the terms on which Deliveroo obliged its riders to work as “egregious”
In an email to riders yesterday, Dan Warne, Deliveroo’s UK managing director, said: “We know that many riders work with other companies as well as Deliveroo, including our competitors. That is fine with us: as an independent contractor you are free to work with whoever you choose and wear whatever kit you want.
“There continues to be no requirement to wear Deliveroo branded kit while you work with us, but please make sure that whatever you wear while riding means that you are safe and visible to other road users.
“This new simple supplier agreement for riders makes it easier than ever to work with Deliveroo. It makes clear that our riders are able to log in to work with us whenever they want - allowing them to fit their work around their life rather than their life around their work.”
