Food delivery firms and UK Home Office combine against migrants working illegally in gig economy

Asylum seekers are banned from working during the first 12 months after lodging their claim. Photo / 123RF

Asylum hotel locations are to be shared by the Home Office with food delivery companies to combat illegal working by asylum-seekers.

The British government department has struck a new agreement with Deliveroo, Just Eat, and Uber Eats, under which officials share details about hotels in high-risk areas to enable the firms to spot illegal working and suspend accounts.

The move is designed to combat the practice of delivery drivers sharing their accounts with asylum-seekers so that they can work illegally.

The efforts to crack down on illegal working came after the Telegraph revealed in May how asylum-seekers housed in taxpayer-funded hotels were working as delivery riders for Deliveroo, Uber Eats, and Just Eat within days of arriving in the United Kingdom on small boats.

Asylum-seekers are banned from working during the first 12 months after lodging their claim, unless a decision is made sooner.

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

“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% increase in raids and arrests for illegal working under the Plan for Change, greater security measures and tough new legislation.”

The gig economy firms had been increasing identity and right-to-work checks, which had led to thousands of workers being taken off the platforms, the Home Office said.

The firms have also agreed to increase the use of facial verification checks and fraud detection technology to ensure only registered account holders can work off their platforms.

This is designed to help stop people with no right to work in the UK from using someone’s name to earn money illegally. Any member of staff caught sharing their accounts will have their profiles suspended.

Those moves follow meetings between Home Office officials and delivery firm bosses this month.

Eddy Montgomery, director of enforcement at the Home Office, said: “This next step of co-ordinated 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.

“My teams will continue to carry out increased enforcement activity across the UK and I welcome this additional tool to disrupt and stop the abuse of our immigration system.”

The three delivery companies said they were fully committed to working with the Home Office and combatting illegal working.

Ministers promised a “nationwide blitz” to target migrants working illegally as part of efforts to deter people from coming to the UK from France.

Officials hope to tackle the “pull factors” attracting migrants to the UK alongside the deal struck by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, the French President, this month to send some people who reach England in small boats, back to France.

More than 23,500 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel so far in 2025, a record for this point in the year.