UK authorities partner with food delivery firms to target illegal working

London, Jul 23 (PTI) The UK Home Office announced on Wednesday that a new agreement with food delivery firms such as Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats will ensure they receive new information concerning the locations of asylum hotels to help tackle illegal working in the country.

Under existing security measures, any delivery riders caught sharing their accounts with migrants without the right to work in the UK are suspended. The new Home Office agreement claims to go further to ensure more people who are breaking the rules can be caught.

“Illegal working undermines honest business, exploits vulnerable individuals and fuels organised immigration crime,” said Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.

“By enhancing our data sharing with delivery companies, we are taking decisive action to close loopholes and increase enforcement. The changes come alongside a 50 per cent increase in raids and arrests for illegal working under the Plan for Change, greater security measures and tough new legislation,” she said.

Under the new government pact, the aim is to empower these private firms to go further in detecting patterns of misuse, identifying unauthorised account sharing and quickly suspending accounts.

The move comes after a commitment made by the firms during a ministerial roundtable meeting last month to implement new security measures. This includes increased facial verification checks and fraud detection tools, meaning only verified users can access their platforms.

“This next step of coordinated working with delivery firms will help us target those who seek to work illegally in the gig economy and exploit their status in the UK,” said Eddy Montgomery, Director of Enforcement, Compliance and Crime at the Home Office.

Official figures released this week claim that there have been more than 10,000 illegal working visits across multiple sectors over the past year, leading to 7,130 arrests, up around 50 per cent compared to the year before. This marks the first time in a 12-month period where more than 10,000 visits have taken place, the Home Office said.

“Almost 750 illegal working civil penalty notices were also handed to businesses caught violating immigration rules in the first quarter of the year, marking the highest level since 2016 – and an 80 per cent increase compared to the same time last year,” it states.

It comes as the government works towards tightening the law by making it a legal requirement for all companies, including the short-term contracts-based gig economy, to check that anyone working for them has the legal right to do so. This is aimed at ending the abuse of flexible working arrangements, with the new measures to be introduced through the landmark Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.

It forms part of a series of measures introduced in recent weeks to clamp down on the large number of migrants living and working illegally in the UK. PTI AK NSA NSA