MANY Deliveroo riders work for less than the minimum wage, earning as little as £2 an hour, while the company’s boss is in line for a £500 million payday, an investigation revealed today. 

The online food delivery company claims that riders are paid more than £10 an hour on average, but an unprecedented analysis of thousands of invoices by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that more than half of the couriers were paid less than that.

According to the study, one in three made less than £8.72, the national minimum wage for workers over 25. A cyclist in Yorkshire reported working 180 hours and being paid the equivalent of £2 an hour. 

Deliveroo is currently preparing for a multibillion-pound stock market flotation that could hand chief executive Will Shu as much as £500m.

Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) general secretary Henry Chango-Lopez warned that Deliveroo was “giving Britain a bad name.

“If the government continues to hail it as a ‘British tech success,’ that sets a dangerous precedent for the future of work in Britain,” he said.

“It’s deplorable that Deliveroo has continued, even through a pandemic, to exploit key workers for as little as £2 per hour. 

“This is why it has become the world’s most protested platform and faces a rising tide of litigation and industrial action in almost every country where it operates.”

In Britain, there were 16 strikes self-organised by Deliveroo riders in September 2019 alone, Mr Chango-Lopez said. 

“Riders last took strike action in Sheffield on November 25 and anyone investing in its exploitative business model should expect more public pressure and worker-led action until their rights are respected,” he added.

Labour law expert Alan Bogg said that the evidence gathered by the bureau, combined with a recent Supreme Court ruling against Uber, meant that Deliveroo’s British operation could soon be forced to concede such rights.

Deliveroo said its riders have “complete freedom to choose when and where to work and can choose which deliveries to accept and which to reject.”

The firm also faces the wrath of footballer Marcus Rashford, who will “discuss the investigation with the senior team at Deliveroo in detail at the earliest opportunity,” a statement confirmed yesterday.

Deliveroo is a backer of his Child Food Poverty Taskforce, as well as a sponsor of the England national team.