Senior executives from Amazon, Deliveroo and Uber have told the UK’s parliamentary work and pensions committee that their companies would still be viable even if they were unable to rely on self-employed workers who are not entitled to the minimum wage, sick pay or pensions. The executives, plus representatives from courier company Hermes, confirmed that recently proposed employment protections for gig economy workers would not force their firms to close. In a letter sent last week, Amazon said it was “committed to supporting our independent drivers in any way we can” but added that its own plans had been delayed by government changes which meant it
Senior executives from Amazon, Deliveroo and Uber have told the UK’s parliamentary work and pensions committee that their companies would still be viable even if they were unable to rely on self-employed workers who are not entitled to the minimum wage, sick pay or pensions. The executives, plus representatives from courier company Hermes, confirmed that recently proposed employment protections for gig economy workers would not force their firms to close. The number of self-employed people in the UK has risen by 1 million since 2009, in contrast to Germany, Italy, Japan and the US where self-employment rates are falling.