Could you owe sick pay and holiday leave to your fleet's drivers?

A version of this article appeared in the May edition of the Private Hire and Taxi Magazine (PHTM)

In late 2018, judges dismissed Uber’s appeal against a landmark employment tribunal ruling that its drivers should be classed as workers with access to the minimum wage and paid holidays, in a case that could affect thousands of private hire fleets.

The case began when two Uber drivers, James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam, took Uber to court on behalf of a group 19 others who argued that they were employed by the company, rather than working for themselves.

It is one of a string of cases that have challenged the self-employed status of gig-economy workers, including action against the minicab firm Addison Lee and the delivery groups CitySprint, Excel and eCourier.

Crucially, the rulings may have big implications for private hire and taxi fleets across the UK. Increasingly, fleet operators are becoming concerned that the structure of their processes and operations may change the legal status of self-employed drivers who carry out work for the fleet.

For instance, some fleets are receiving card payments on behalf of their drivers, then manually calculating how much each driver is owed on a weekly or monthly basis, before paying out to each driver’s bank account.

Not only does this process create a significant amount of administrative hassle and banking charges for the fleet operator, the way the payment flows may inadvertently create circumstances in which drivers are considered workers or employees, with rights to sick pay, holiday pay, parental leave and other benefits. This could, of course, be very costly for private hire fleets.

CabCard Services is a specialist card payment processor and has been working with fleets in the taxi and private hire sector since 2007. Because CabCard pays out directly to each driver’s bank account, CabCard can help your fleet to reduce costs and administrative burden, while ensuring that there is no confusion about drivers’ employment status.

Call CabCard today to find out how CabCard can help to save your fleet money and grow your business.

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