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“I earn more from janitorial work than I do from working as a takeaway rider,” explains Marina, a Brazilian woman who juggles two jobs to sustain her 12- and 18-year-old daughters.

It’s a “rubbish, terrible job”, says Adam, from Sudan, who pairs riding for a delivery platform with working towards a law degree. “During a profitable shift I can earn £50 or £60, even though it’s really hard doing deliveries using a pedal bike.”

“As humans we are unseen to the people we deliver to,” says Mohammed, a Syrian refugee who also works as a delivery rider. “People don’t reflect on our struggles and our dreams. I’ve heard people in this country talk about inferior citizens; delivery riders are actually lowest-ranking citizens.”

Marina, Adam and Mohammed are just a few of the countless food delivery riders in the UK, primarily working for the leading players. Most are migrants, according to the riders themselves.

The government has been cracking down on people working illegally in the food delivery industry, but those interviewed in London, Liverpool and Manchester say they are working with proper authorization in demanding, poorly paid conditions that many Britons would find unbearable.

“I have worked for each platform over the past few years,” says Marina. “At different times one company has paid a bit more or a bit less than the others, but today in terms of compensation and working conditions they’re all largely the same.”

Women Riders Encounter Extra Hazards

Men predominate this work but Marina is one of about 800 members of a UK WhatsApp group for women riders from Brazil. Here they share advice on how to deal with risks such as exhaustion, low pay and accidents and injuries, as well as unwanted attention from male customers.

“Occasionally men greet us to women riders unclothed or in their underwear,” says Marina. “One man I delivered food to tried to force me into his house. Another hit me across the face in the street. Doing this job makes you feel that you are not a person, just a meal distribution mechanism.”

“Everyone assumes all riders are working against the law, which is not the case,” adds Rayan, from Pakistan. “We are vulnerable to being targeted – I’ve been attacked twice by youths who were just doing it for entertainment. We are overlooked and vulnerable at the same time.”

App-Based Separation

None of the riders interviewed said they had ever met a boss from any of the platforms directly. All said their only communication was with the app, which offers them deliveries that are up for grabs and the compensation they will be paid – sometimes only about £3.

“We are a very present-day kind of worker,” says Mohammed. “The taskmaster is the app that sends us our orders.”

All the riders said that they despise delivery work, but have few alternatives if they want to earn money within the law. Visa and residence conditions mean that many do not have the permission to do jobs defined as “specialized” by the government.

When it’s really cold I have to defrost my legs with a hairdryer

Physical Struggles

Pleasant days are the least profitable for delivery riders, as potential customers are more likely to go out and get their own food. Traveling along dimly illuminated streets, slippery with rain and with reduced visibility, increases the danger of accidents. But at least they will be earning.

Rayan, an English graduate who aspires of becoming a academic of English literature and writing novels, says the only way he can manage is by working for as many hours as he can bear without taking a break.

“Sometimes I am so chilled I want to go home and thaw out. When it’s really cold I have to defrost my legs with a hair dryer. The freezing sensation of the wind and rain turns my skin white. The prospect of going out on the road again after warming up is unbearable to tolerate.”

Some days he works in several sets of socks, three pairs of trousers and multiple coats.

“I still aspire of becoming an English professor one day but things don’t always turn out the way you want them to. I came here thinking I had a job arranged with a employer but I was deceived. There was no sponsor, so I am doing deliveries, working 10- to 12-hour days or for as long as I have the energy.”

Economic Strain

When he started to work as a delivery rider he used to take out books from the library to read while he was expecting orders to come through. “My beloved author is Dostoevsky, who I call the ‘wizard of writing’. I particularly love The Idiot, but I don’t read any more because I’m too exhausted. This work has just depleted everything out of me.”

Rayan says that riders on cycles can earn about £300 per week, while those on mopeds can earn about £450, but the second group have to pay insurance and fuel costs. “I don’t earn enough to provide for my wife and child, so I have had to take out a loan just to get by.”

The perception among riders that they have been “deleted” as humans from the operating system comes up repeatedly. They see themselves as simply a mechanism joining three dots – the delivery company, the outlets or eateries where they pick up the orders, and the customers who accept the food.

“All we riders can focus on is money and how to keep going in order to earn enough to survive,” says Rayan.

Long-Term Employees

Bruno, from Brazil, portrays himself as a “dinosaur” because he has been doing delivery work for six years.

“Many people can’t speak English, and this is a job they can do without having to speak the language,” he says. “I continue doing it because I have a son I need to deliver and retrieve from school, and I need work that has versatility.”

A team of researchers at Birmingham University recently published a study about the mistreatment of migrants doing delivery and domestic work.

Food delivery platforms have found a dial that allows them to turn back the clock on workers’ rights

“The UK food delivery sector has become a ‘testing ground’ for a new model of migration governance,” the researcher says. This work is promoted as “adaptable” and “empowering”, but in reality “it merges work computerization, online surveillance and residency enforcement.”

Working conditions have become tougher since March, he says, when migration checks increased as part of a clampdown on illegal working.

“These changes have effectively embedded the adverse environment into platform work. This is a system where foreign workers are accepted only as long as they remain uncomplaining, flexible and unnoticed. It’s time for a policy reset that puts workers’ dignity and entitlements at the centre.”

Regulatory Position

While the highest court ruled in 2021 that certain delivery drivers were “staff” rather than independent contractors, entitling them to certain basic rights, the same court declared in 2023 that delivery riders are independent contractors due to a “substitution clause”, a legal provision allowing them to send someone else to work in their place.

Unions continue to struggle for more rights for this group of workers. There is a non-mandatory agreement with one major platform, for example, that is meant to ensure riders are paid at least the national minimum wage plus costs for the time they are on an order. However, if they are only sent one or two orders in an hour they are improbable to earn the time-based national minimum wage.

“Food delivery platforms have found in the gig economy a control that allows them to regress on workers’ rights,” says a union representative. “The result is a workforce burdened with monetary, physical and mental health struggles. With such poor earnings, riders are forced to take hazardous risks on the road to reduce delivery times. With no time off payment, they get no time to rest. And with no regular salary they are kept in constant anxiety about whether or not they will be able to survive financially that week.”

Platform Statement

The delivery platforms reject this portrayal. “The overwhelming majority of riders tell us they are happy working with us,” a spokesperson for one platform says. “We are always looking at ways to raise the quality of independent work. We were the first major delivery platform to back unionization and freely partner with a union. Earlier this year we boosted riders’ base hourly earnings promise and have introduced many valuable protections, such as free insurance, illness cover and monetary support when riders become new parents.”

“The wellbeing and welfare of everyone who uses our platform is our top priority,” says another platform, “and there are a number of {s