THE Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) applied today for a judicial review of a decision that Deliveroo couriers are not classified as workers.

In November, the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) ruled that the company’s couriers are not workers and therefore are not entitled to collective bargaining rights, holiday pay or the minimum wage.

The CAC stated that it considered the substitution clause within Deliveroo’s rider contract, which granted couriers the right to find a substitute person to do their deliveries, to be genuine, meaning couriers were formally independent contractors.

But no evidence of the substitution clause being correctly used was heard by the tribunal, the IWGB said in arguing that the CAC incorrectly interpreted the law.

IWGB general secretary Jason Moyer-Lee said: “The IWGB will not stand by idly while Deliveroo continues to deprive its workers of their rights because they successfully gamed the system, won on a technicality and benefited from a legally questionable tribunal decision.”

The CAC also “erroneously ignored the relevance” of evidence of the fact that Deliveroo’s substitution clause was putting the company in breach of health & safety and food-safety regulations, the union added.