Jinn courier claims he was paid just £1.74 an hour

Accusations that the so-called gig economy is ripping off workers have hit the headlines again, with a delivery rider telling The Guardian he was paid as little as £1.74 per hour.

The unnamed courier from Leeds, who is self-employed through Jinn, which delivers meals and groceries, showed the paper evidence he was paid just £125 for 72 hours' work.

Other receipts revealed he was paid the equivalent of £2.80 an hour and £3.05 an hour in other periods, before deducting motorbike costs of about £30 a week.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"In common with many workers in the UK's fast-growing gig economy, the couriers are classed as self-employed, meaning the mandatory minimum wage does not apply to them," says the Guardian.

Jinn "scrapped a minimum hourly rate of £8 an hour in January", with riders now working on a "piecework basis", adds the paper, meaning couriers are paid set rates per delivery rather than a guaranteed hourly rate.

Jinn rider Riz Ali said he had fallen into debt after his earnings dropped from an expected £759.60 for two weeks' work to £264.

"It is absolutely terrible," he said. "You would get more on government benefits. It is not worth working."

Leon Herrera, Jinn's co-founder and chief operating officer, said couriers were free to take or refuse work and were not exclusively contracted to Jinn.

He said: "Couriers on our platform are 100 per cent free to log in at their own schedule, accept or reject proposed drops, and do all of this on a completely non-exclusive basis."

Herrera added that couriers were informed when and where there was demand "so that they can make informed decisions regarding log-in days, times and locations".

Jinn is not the only company employing drivers on a self-employed basis to face claims of paying below-legal wages.

Uber has frequently been criticised over its effective pay rates, while delivery company Hermes is under investigation by HMRC.

In both cases, complainants say they are not self-employed as their working activities are wholly controlled and managed by the companies and as such, they should be entitled to the legal minimum wage.