Labour MP Frank Field has called on Theresa May to guarantee that self-employed workers get a minimum wage. This is for people who work through companies such as Uber and Hermes and technically considered self-employed. He said there should also be better protection for people working in these roles to ensure that they can earn a basic standard of living and don’t lose work without notice.
Field said that there should be a review of modern work practices so that everyone can benefit from a “national standard of fair work in the gig economy”. 
There have been many legal claims from people who have been wrongly classed as self-employed by companies who try to wriggle out of providing basic employee rights.
Field said that a new national standard of fair work would “give the prime minster the tools she needs to craft basic humanity, decency and fairness into the bottom of Britain’s labour market”.
900,000 self-employed people have been added to the workforce in the UK since 2010. If there was a national minimum standard, this would reduce the need for employment tribunals. HMRC could decide whether people are genuinely self-employed or are being exploited. Field’s proposal would have HMRC extend employment rights to include all gig workers.
The proposals
The proposal says that rights should include a guarantee of an income that meets the national minimum wage after expenses have been taken into account like petrol. There should also be a ban on people working long hours that become dangerous in order to earn a basic living.
Workers should also have the right to challenge employment practices without fear of immediate dismissal. There should also be more transparency when it comes to how companies are calculating everyone’ pay. This may deter them from paying too little.
Frank Field has said: “For some working people, the gig economy provides the opportunity of flexible work, and a supplementary income, around which they can fit other commitments. However, for many others the gig economy represents a life of low pay, chronic insecurity and exploitation, in which all of the risks in the employment relationship are unloaded on to them by the company with whom they are working, and the gains go almost exclusively to the company in question.”
Field has suggested that the director of labour market enforcement, Sir David Metcalf could be the one to enforce new minimum working standards.
However, these proposals are expected to be hit with opposition from the companies who are thought to exploit gig workers. In response to the proposals, Hermes said it was looking at them, whereas Uber declined to comment.
“As part of our country-wide evidence-gathering tour we are considering whether employment practices need to change to keep pace with modern business models – including the gig economy and use of agency workers,” they said. “It is also considering the implications of new forms of work on worker rights and responsibilities – as well as on employer freedoms and obligations,” said a spokesperson for the Taylor review. They said they would look into Field’s proposals.
What do you think of Field’s proposals? Have you ever had experience of being wrongly labelled self-employed? Let us know your thoughts or experiences in the comments section below.