All About Self Employment

015 Supreme Court Uber Decision - Impact on the Gig Economy

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Episode notes

You can’t have missed the fact that the Supreme Court recently concluded that Uber drivers are not self-employed, despite being engaged on that basis, but are actually workers.  This is a very significant judgement which looks set to have wide-ranging implications for the gig economy, so today we’re talking to Lewina Farrell, a solicitor with many years’ experience of employment law, about what exactly it could mean.  We discuss:

• Why employment status is important;
• What exactly did the Supreme Court decide;
• The reasons and evidence for their decision;
• Contract terms vs statutory protection;
• What next for Uber;
• What next for gig economy worker rights.

Lewina brilliantly covers this important and complex subject in plain English, and points out the potential difficulties for Uber and the wider gig economy.  If you’re looking for a straight forward analysis of the case, then you need to listen to this!

About Lewina Farrell

Lewina is a solicitor and was previously Head of Legal Services at a leading professional body for recruitment agencies.  In that role she advised agencies on employment law, general commercial matters, and issues specific to recruitment such as the Agency Workers Regulations.  Lewina was also the lead for IR35 which we have covered in other podcast episodes.  Lewina left that role recently and is in the process of setting up as an independent consultant.