LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s interior ministry has told food delivery firms Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat to implement stricter controls to end the practice of unchecked account sharing by their drivers and riders over worries about illegal and underage workers.
Food delivery companies make initial checks on those who want to work for them, ensuring their age and their legal right to work in Britain. But once approved, the rider can sub-contract their accounts to others, who have not been checked.
“Unchecked account sharing places the public at risk, enables – and therefore encourages – illegal migration, and leads to the exploitation of workers,” Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said in a statement on Tuesday.
Jenrick wrote to the three companies, which dominate the meal delivery sector, on Tuesday to tell them to end unchecked sharing accounts.
Immigration officials had already made over 380 arrests involving food delivery drivers so far this year, the statement added.
(Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by William James and Paul Sandle)