Coronavirus: UK government’s failure to protect self-employed and gig economy to be legally challenged by union

Claims that support for wages and jobs discriminates against those in insecure jobs

A trade union is taking legal action against the government for failure to protect the wages and jobs of gig workers and the self-employed during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) issued a legal letter accusing the government of discriminating against black and ethnic minority workers, women and those in insecure employment in its response to Covid-19.

The government last week announced it would guarantee 80 per cent of payroll workers’ wages, but unlike in similar schemes abroad, Britain’s five million self-employed people will not be covered.

Additionally, many self-employed people are not eligible for others benefits like statutory sick pay, which is in any case only £94.25 a week – well below a living wage.

The action came as Boris Johnson faced escalating pressure to offer support to the self-employed, who will not benefit from the support for wages announced by chancellor Rishi Sunak last week.

The PM’s official spokesman said that the government understands the difficult position self-employed people are in, adding: “We are actively considering further steps. We appreciate the urgency of the situation, and officials are working around the clock to find a well-targeted support package.”

But IWGB general secretary Jason Moyer-Lee said: “Many low-paid and precarious workers are on the frontlines of this crisis, distributing food, delivering medical samples, cleaning buildings and looking after children in need, yet they have the least protection.

“Many who become sick or need to self-isolate will receive little or no sick pay. Others who are laid off will not receive wage subsidies from the government because they are not employees.

“No one wants to be litigating right now, but we also cannot stand by while our members are exposed to unnecessary risk or driven into destitution.”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s new salary protections did not include gig economy workers (EPA)

IWGB, which was founded in 2012 to represent precarious workers in the modern gig economy, has launched a crowdfunding appeal for £20,000 to help fund legal costs in the battle.

Self-employed workers can currently access a much less generous £94 a week in universal credit benefits and have been given the ability to defer self-assessed tax payments until next year.

In some other countries, workers are being given an average of their previous years’ pay.

Linda Arteaga, a cleaner and member of the IWGB’s Cleaners and Facilities branch said: “I work as a cleaner and I am a widowed single mother. As important as it may be to self-isolate, having to live for half a month on £94.25 per week would make my life impossible. I would have to choose between buying food for my family and following the government’s health advice to protect the public.”

Greg Howard, a Deliveroo rider and Secretary of the IWGB’s Couriers and Logistics branch said: “While other workers are being offered some assistance during the Covid-19 pandemic, as a ‘gig economy’ worker I am being refused even the most basic protections. While the government expects workers such as myself to provide essential services during this crisis, if I am sick or if the company I work for has to downsize, I’ll be driven into deeper hardship. The law has to change so that it protects all workers.”

In 2018 the European Committee on Social Rights, an enforcement body of the Council of Europe, warned the government that the UK’s low rates of statutory sick pay were “manifestly inadequate” and in breach of the legally-binding European Social Charter.

The IWGB was joined in its call for action on the self-employed on Monday by former governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the government needed to offer further help regardless of the cost to the public finances.