Uber calls for ride-hailing rivals to offer cross-industry pension
Seven months after a long-running legal battle between Uber and its UK drivers culminated in the Supreme Court ruling that its drivers are workers and not self-employed, Uber has from today begun rolling out its pension plan to its 70,000 people shuttlers.
The ride-hailing app said its drivers would be auto-enrolled in a new scheme provided by NOW:Pensions and managed by Adecco.
The majority of drivers in the UK work across several rival apps at a time – namely Bolt, Addison Lee and Ola, none of whom have offered their drivers this standard employment right.
Alongside its announcement of the pension scheme today, Uber called on its industry rivals to work wih the company on a cross-industry pension scheme “so [drivers] can benefit no matter who they choose to drive with,” it said.
“We want to ensure that all eligible drivers can benefit no matter who they earn with, so today I am extending an invitation to work with operators such as Bolt, Addison Lee and Ola to create a cross-industry pension scheme,” said Uber regional manager Jamie Heywood.
Heywood has previously pushed for a clearer set of rules across the driver app market.