Information about asylum hotels will be shared with delivery apps by the Home Office after migrants living in accommodation in central London were alleged to be working as fast-food riders within hours of arriving in the UK.
In a bid to clampdown on illegal working, asylum hotel locations in suspected hotspots, such as the capital, will be shared as part of a new agreement with Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats.
The Home Office said the plan will help the firms uncover abuse on their platforms and quickly suspend accounts. But immigration lawyers argued it will be “ineffective” and easy to bypass.
Currently delivery riders discovered to be sharing their accounts with asylum seekers, who are normally barred from work while their claim is being processed, have their profiles suspended. The latest measures hope to crack down further on the practice.
The gig economy firms have also committed to increasing real-time identity and right to work checks which has already led to thousands of workers being taken off the platforms, the Home Office said.
It comes after shadow home secretary Chris Philp claimed last month to have uncovered “clear evidence” of people working illegally for the food delivery firms during a visit to a hotel in London used to house asylum seekers.
Emma Brooksbank, immigration partner at law firm Freeths, said the new measures did not go far enough to tackle the problem and the apps are not subject to the same £60,000-per-worker fines other businesses are liable to pay if they are found to have hired someone illegally.
“Today’s announcement is expected to be ineffective,” she said. “The intention is that Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats will quickly cancel accounts which are noted to be repeatedly active in high-risk areas, around asylum seeker hotels.
“It will not be difficult for illegal workers to bypass this restriction and avoid detection, thereby making the agreed data sharing pointless.
“Companies like these gig economy operators are largely unregulated, and as such the usual right to work penalties of £60,000 per illegal worker do not apply to them. They have no real incentive to clean up their act.”
Delivery firms met Home Office bosses earlier this month to discuss the concerns of abuse in the sector.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Illegal working undermines honest business, exploits vulnerable individuals and fuels organised immigration crime.
“By enhancing our data sharing with delivery companies, we are taking decisive action to close loopholes and increase enforcement.”
Ministers have promised a “nationwide blitz” to target migrants working illegally as part of efforts to deter people from coming to the UK from France. Raids on companies suspected of hiring people illegally have increased by 50%.
Officials hope to tackle the “pull factors” attracting migrants to the UK alongside the deal struck by Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month to send some people who reach England in small boats back to France.
More than 23,500 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel so far in 2025, a record for this point in the year.
A Deliveroo spokesperson said: “We are fully committed to working with the government as we continue to collectively combat illegal working.”
A Just Eat spokesperson said: “We continue to invest significant resources to strengthen our systems against abuse by individuals and organised criminal groups seeking to evade right to work rules.
“We are working closely with the Home Office and our industry partners to address any loopholes in the industry's checks, as well as collaborating on data sharing and enforcement.”
An Uber Eats spokesperson said: “We have introduced a range of state-of-the-art detection tools to find and remove fraudulent accounts. We are constantly reviewing our tools and finding new ways to detect and take action on people who are trying to work illegally.”
