Royal Mail: Taylor Review on working practices “a step in the right direction”

In a letter published by The Financial Times on Friday (14 July), Moya Greene, the Chief Executive of Royal Mail Group, welcomed The Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices as “a step in the right direction”. As previously reported, one of the key recommendations of the Taylor Review was that the government should consider creating a new category of worker (the “dependent contractor”) people involved in “gig economy” jobs like on-demand and “life-style courier” deliveries.

In her letter to the FT, Greene said: “Royal Mail is one of the country’s largest employers, with 142,000 people. We provide one in 185 jobs across the UK. We are proud that 98.7 per cent of our people have permanent contracts that pay well above the National Living Wage.

“We have long had major concerns about labour standards in the broader parcels sector. The recommendations of the Taylor review are a step in the right direction. We look forward to concrete proposals to raise standards for all people working to deliver parcels. We offer the best employment terms and conditions in our sector and paid £370m in national insurance contributions last year from us and our employees, making a substantial contribution to the exchequer.

“All too often we are competing with players in the delivery industry who are able to avoid NI charges and the UK’s minimum employment standards through labour models that are unfair and insecure.

“We do not claim to be perfect. We will look at those parts of our business, such as Parcelforce Worldwide and eCourier, that operate using some self-employed drivers. If there are issues to be addressed, we will take action. I hope that others in the delivery sector will do likewise, or explain why they will not.”