Parcelforce owner drivers claim

Anyone who is a current Parcelforce delivery driver or who has recently driven for Parcelforce in the last 10 weeks.

For the purposes of this claim, we are only able to represent drivers who have been described by Parcelforce as being self-employed in their contract.

We estimate that Parcelforce owner drivers could be entitled to approximately £21,000 in compensation.

We are claiming:

• Back payment for unpaid holiday payments.
• Compensation if you received less than the National Minimum Wage.

We will calculate your compensation using documents such as your driver statements, bank statements, records of hours worked and receipts. At the end of the claim, if we win, we will deduct 25% plus VAT from your compensation for our legal fees.

This fee is reduced to 20% plus VAT if you are an existing member of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) trade union or join Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) within 28 days of agreeing to the no win no free agreement.

If the claim is lost, you should not have to pay Parcelforce’s legal fees unless there are exceptional circumstances such as if you behave in a vexatious, abusive, disruptive, or otherwise unreasonable manner, or ignore an order of the Tribunal.

Yes, you can still join the claim if you have driven for Parcelforce in the last 10 weeks.

At this point in time, we are only acting for drivers who work or have worked directly for Parcelforce under an ‘Owner Driver Agreement’ – unfortunately you are not eligible to join this claim if you worked through another company. 

If you have any questions, or would like to contact us regarding this point, please do not hesitate to contact us by emailing parcelforceclaims@leighday.co.uk.

Parcelforce should not penalise drivers for bringing a legal claim.

While we cannot guarantee how Parcelforce will respond to you bringing a claim, workers have not been penalised by their employers in other similar cases we have brought. However, as a worker, you have legal protection from Parcelforce treating you differently for claiming these rights.

If Parcelforce did remove your work, we can bring an additional claim on your behalf arguing that Parcelforce should pay you compensation for removing your work. We believe that there would be a good case for arguing that it is unlawful for Parcelforce to remove or change the conditions of your work because of your claim and that you would be entitled to additional compensation.

No, you do not need to provide any documents to join the claim.

Once you join the claim, we will contact you with further information. During the course of the claim, we may ask you to provide documents to support your claim, such as documents which assist in calculating your compensation. We will contact you if we need anything from you.

No. This claim is about workers’ rights, in particular your right to receive holiday pay and at least the minimum wage. You can be self-employed for tax purposes and a worker to receive workers’ rights.

We are not challenging the fact that you are self-employed for tax purposes. We recognise that some drivers may want to remain self-employed.

A number of employers have faced 'worker' status cases in Tribunals and Courts over the last few years.

Most notably in 2021, the UK Supreme Court head a final appeal by Uber against an Employment Tribunal’s original decision that their drivers were workers, rather than independent contractors. The Supreme Court found in favour of the drivers and dismissed Uber’s appeal against the Tribunal’s original decision. Uber drivers are now entitled to receive holiday pay, the National Minimum Wage and other benefits from Uber.

Your case has similarities to the Uber case. The Employment Tribunal would look at the reality of the relationship between Parcelforce and Parcelforce drivers.  Our view is that if you succeed with the claim in Employment Tribunal, the Uber Supreme Court decision makes it far less likely that Parcelforce will be able to successfully appeal an Employment Decision in your favour.

We see no reason as to why you should have less flexibility as a worker, rather than a self-employed independent contractor.

Parcelforce simply needs to ensure that it allows drivers to take time off and to pay them for this, in the same way that any worker is entitled to paid holiday. Parcelforce also need to make sure that the rate it pays its drivers is high enough that they receive at least the National Minimum Wage, once you consider the amounts they have to spend on expenses, like petrol and vehicle expenses.