UK food delivery firms to crack down on irregular migrant workers

LONDON

U.K. food delivery services Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat have agreed to "strengthen" security checks, including through facial verification, to prevent irregular migrants working as drivers after facing government criticism.

Despite controls in place to verify users' right to work in the U.K., "there continues to be abuse in the sector" through account sharing, the government said in a press release.

The three firms were called for a meeting with Britain's Labour administration in the wake an investigation by The Sun daily tabloid last week into the illegal work practices in the gig economy sector.

While asylum seekers who cross the Channel to reach the U.K. do not have the right to work while they await a decision on their asylum claims, many are able to side-step checks to find work as delivery drivers by "renting" accounts of verified users.

Under pressure from the anti-immigration Reform U.K. party led by Nigel Farage, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been at pains to lower irregular immigration levels.

A new immigration bill before parliament aims to give the police more power to deal with smuggling networks and tighten controls on the right to work in the U.K..

Since January, over 19,000 people have arrived at British shores after crossing the from France in small boats — an unprecedented number this early in the year despite several measures in place to curb the perilous journeys.

Several French officials, including former interior minister Gerald Darmanin, have argued that opportunities for migrants to work illegally in the U.K. are a pull factor for those attempting to cross the Channel.