Hermes couriers have welcomed the announcement that the parcel delivery firm faces an inquiry by HM Revenue and Customs into allegations that couriers are paid at levels equivalent to less than the “national living wage” and claims they may have been wrongly classed as self employed.
A Guardian investigation revealed in July that some self-employed contractors were taking home less than £6 an hour.
“I am just glad they are going to start looking into it,” said Cherie Nolan, a long-term Hermes courier from Manchester who quit in the summer when a regular customer threatened violence in a dispute over whether a parcel had been delivered. Nolan said it was “about time” that big companies were scrutinised.
“I hope they are going to realise that the little man is not always the skivvy, that we are people and we have rights. I was convinced I was a worker and was not self-employed. We were being dictated to too much. I would like to see the couriers receive backdated money.”
A current Hermes courier in Manchester, Marie, 42, who estimates she earns £3.50 an hour after expenses, welcomed the government move. If HMRC does find that the workers are not self-employed, they will be entitled to the national living wage, currently £7.20 an hour for those aged 25 and over. “I feel like we are now being listened to,” Marie said.
“My customers are asking me if it’s true I am earning less than the minimum wage and when I say yes they are disgusted.”
After the Guardian ran its initial investigation, Hermes invited couriers who felt they were being underpaid to request a review of their parcel delivery rates. Marie said she wrote to her bosses six weeks ago requesting a rise on her 45p per parcel rate, but has heard nothing since. “I can’t be patient,” she said. “I am working for nothing. I am at the bottom end of the parcel rates.”
She said she was now looking for a second job to subsidise the expenses of working for Hermes, which have recently risen because of higher petrol prices.
Hermes said it was “confident in the legality of our self-employed courier model and we will cooperate fully with any investigation should there be one.”
It said: “Three out of four of the pay-rate cases that were reviewed by the service complaints panel in its first month received a rate increase. We also have an external independent ombudsman service that is able to make an independent decision on matters that are referred to it, and Hermes has committed to always accept the decision of the ombudsman.”
Couriers have complained that their self-employed status makes work highly precarious and they fear losing their rounds if they are not able to work on certain days through illness, bereavement or vehicle breakdown.
“It is fantastic that couriers’ concerns are finally being taken seriously on this,” said a Hermes courier from Yorkshire who asked not to be named. “Most couriers have homes and families to support and we should all be able to work and do our job without the threat of instant removal of work for something outside your control. If we are self-employed then we should be able to run the business as we see fit, able to turn down work, and then it is real self employment.”
Another worker who has been with the company for five years welcomed the investigation, but said he would earn less if he was moved to the national living wage rather than the parcel rate. “I can deliver 100 parcels in 3.5 hours and make around £1,300 a month – but for someone who is new and still learning it would take them much longer to do the same work,” he said.
He said he only felt self-employed “when I get paid and I have to pay my own tax ... we can’t just take time off, we have to get cover”. Recently he had to cancel a planned break because there was no one to cover his work. “They asked: ‘Are you registered with HMRC? Then you’re self-employed and you need to get your own cover.’”
