Court rejects appeal against Deliveroo rider judgement

The UK Court of Appeal has upheld past judgements that Deliveroo riders are self-employed, dismissing an appeal by the IWGB union.

It is the fourth court judgement in the UK to determine the delivery aggregator’s riders are self-employed rather than workers. All three judges agreed and there were no dissenting opinions, with one of the judges describing the decision as “inevitable”.

A spokesperson for Deliveroo said: “Today is good news for Deliveroo riders and marks an important milestone. UK courts have now tested and upheld the self-employed status of Deliveroo riders four times.

“Our message to riders is clear. We will continue to back your right to work the way you want and we will continue to listen to you and respond to the things that matter to you most.”

Deliveroo said it would continue to campaign for companies like its own to be able to offer the full flexibility of self-employment along with greater benefits and more security.

The London Stock Exchange responded positively to the outcome with Deliveroo’s shares up 8.5% after the announcement.

Commenting on the case, Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown said the company’s success in court appeared to hinge on the fact riders were able to ask another person to take on a job for them. “This was the crunch factor which led to the UK Supreme court ruling that because of the lack of substitution rights, Uber drivers should be classed as workers.”

Concern about Deliveroo’s reliance on the gig economy model was one of the factors which contributed to its disastrous IPO in March this year.

Added Streeter: “Although the gig economy stronghold is for now staying largely firm, over time there may be fresh capitulations as companies tweak their models to satisfy ongoing concerns under the spotlight being increasingly trained on firms by institutional investors.”