Illegal migrants living large in taxpayer-funded hotels in Britain are raking in thousands in untaxed income while working for online food delivery firms, an investigation claims.
After crossing the English Channel in small boats from France and being put up in hotels throughout the UK at taxpayer’s expense, migrants are earning up to £1,500 per month as drivers for delivery services like Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Just Eat.
While illegal migrants and asylum seekers are prohibited from working in Britain, a black market has emerged in the food delivery industry, an investigation from the Mail on Sunday and Reform UK leader Richard Tice has claimed.
According to the findings, legal residents in Britain are selling their login details to the delivery apps to illegal migrants on sites such as Facebook Marketplace for around £100, with couriers being allowed to subcontract out to substitute drivers. At present, the major providers all put the onus on their drivers to determine whether their substitute drivers are legally permitted to work and do not have criminal backgrounds.
One illegal told the paper that he and over 100 other migrants living in a taxpayer-funded are working illegally in Britain, including many for food delivery firms.
Reform UK leader Richard Tice said: “Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats have been turning a blind eye to illegal working by asylum seekers on a massive scale in the UK. They should be ashamed of themselves and they should immediately stop all substitution accounts. The Government must pass urgent legislation with heavy fines on these delivery companies if they transgress.”
Tice noted that through this loophole, migrants are not only able to skirt the prohibition on working but also can avoid paying any taxes. The populist politician also claimed that such practices deflate the rates for legal residents working for food delivery services.
“I spoke to someone who was earning £170-180 a day, a migrant hotel suddenly arrives in the town and suddenly the migrants are doing this job and the rate plummets to about £50 per day,” he told GB News.
“I think there are tens of thousands of people working illegally. It’s a cost to all of us, it’s bad for British workers, it’s bad for the Treasury, and it encourages and acts as a magnet for more people to come here,” Tice added.
In response to the reporting, the Tory government’s immigration minister, Robert Jenrick said that it was “completely unacceptable” and that he has written to the food delivery firms, demanding that they crack down on allowing unverified drivers to “prevent the scourge of illegal working”.
Deliveroo, Just Eat, and Uber Eats all told the paper that they were “working closely” with the Government to introduce more measures to prevent illegal migrants from working for them.
The revelations come as at least 519 more illegals crossed the English Channel over the weekend in small boats launched by people-smuggling gangs on the beaches of France.