Frequently Asked Questions – Worker Protections

A worker is an employment classification that is unique under UK employment law. Workers are not employees. Workers are entitled to the National Living Wage, holiday pay and access to a pension. You will continue to have total flexibility, meaning you can choose if, when and where you work, while accessing new rights and protections.

You can still drive with other operators, but you will need to contact them directly to find out if you are entitled to similar treatment on other platforms.

Drivers will remain as self-employed for tax purposes, and should continue to complete an annual tax return.

No, this does not apply to couriers who use the Uber Eats platform.

No this does not apply to Fleet partners.

No, this is applicable to drivers in the United Kingdom only.

Drivers will always earn at least the National Living Wage. If your earnings (after vehicle expenses and other charges like the Congestion Charge Zone in London) were lower than the National Living Wage, Uber will top up your earnings to meet the National Living Wage. This is added on a weekly basis and will be reflected on your pay statement.  

Top-up payments can be found on your pay statement, in Other Earnings under the line items “Statutory NLW”. You will receive your usual pay on Mondays, followed by a separate payment of any earnings guarantee owed to you, which you will see in-app on Tuesdays.

You can choose to cash out using the paid instant cashout service, or you can wait until the next Monday and your National Living Wage top-up will be added to your normal payment.

All drivers are eligible for the National Living Wage for time they spend working.  Time spent working is calculated based on your engaged time: the time between when you accept a trip on the app to the point at which the trip is completed. If you earn over the National Living Wage, then you will keep all of your earnings. Drivers who are not currently active for any reason, will not receive this as it only applies to weekly time spent on trips.

The earnings guarantee is calculated every week as: 

(Remuneration* minus reductions) divided by hours worked

*Remuneration = earnings + incentive

this equals to

[(Earnings plus incentives) - (vehicle expenses plus CCZ charges minus CeLo fee)] divided by hours worked 

If your earnings (after vehicle expenses, and other charges like the Congestion Charge Zone in London) were lower than the National Living Wage, Uber will top up your earnings to meet the National Living Wage. The Congestion Charge Zone fee (CCZ) and Central London fees (CeLo fees) are only applicable for drivers in London.  The Congestion Charge Zone fee has been included as an expense, only when it is incurred as per TFL guidelines (here)

If you earn more than the National Living Wage in the relevant pay period, you will be able to keep all of your usual earnings and will not receive any adjustment relating to the earnings guarantee for that pay period.

Currently, earnings are assessed over a one week reference period. You will also receive a payment every week of 12.07% of your weekly earnings to reflect statutory holiday pay (please see below under Holiday Payment for details of how holiday pay is calculated). This will also be reflected on your pay statement.

You earn the National Living Wage from the time you accept a trip on the app to the point at which the trip is completed: this is called the engaged time. 

Time waiting for a trip to be offered to you is not included in your National Living Wage calculation. This is because there is no requirement to accept any trips during this period. 

This allows you the flexibility to manage your time as you wish.

As a worker, you will not be reimbursed directly for expenses like vehicle rental costs, mobile phone bills, or livery.

However, the trip payment which you receive includes the expenses that Uber calculates that you necessarily incur when you drive. Any payments that we make to ensure you are earning the National Living Wage will take into account the average costs of running your vehicle and payment of certain fees (such as the Congestion Charge Zone in London). Vehicle running costs are calculated using HMRC’s rate for vehicle expenses. The average rate for vehicle expenses is 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles driven. After 10,000 miles it is 25p per mile.

You will receive a payment every week of 12.07% of your earnings (after other expenses as per HMRC) to reflect statutory holiday pay. This will also be reflected on your pay statement in Other Earnings under the line items Statutory holiday pay.

You can choose to cash out using the paid instant cashout service, or you can wait until the next Monday and your National Living Wage and Holiday payment will be added to your normal payment.

The holiday payment is calculated every week: 

(Earnings) multiplied by 12.07%

this equals to 

[(Earnings plus NLW top-up) minus (vehicle expenses plus CCZ charges minus CeLo fee)] multiplied by 12.07%

The Congestion Charge Zone fee (CCZ) and Central London fees (CeLo fees) are only applicable for drivers in London.  The Congestion Charge Zone fee has been included as an expense, only when it is incurred as per TFL guidelines (here)

A worker is entitled to 5.6 weeks’ statutory holiday each year. This calculation generally applies to workers who have fixed periods of when they can be required to work and when they are required to take holiday.

Drivers with Uber have complete flexibility as to when and how to work and to take holiday, and therefore there are no fixed times for periods of holiday.  As a result, we have needed to adopt an approach that works for you in practice.  

As you are entitled to take 5.6 weeks holiday per year, you would be working for 46.4 weeks of each year. If you divide the number of holiday weeks by the working weeks, this shows that you would be on holiday for 12.07% of each year should you take all of the statutory holiday that you are entitled to.  

As a result, the percentage of your weekly earnings that equate to the holiday pay that you are entitled to is 12.07%.  With this in mind, we consider that the 12.07% calculation is the most appropriate way to calculate holiday pay.

You will not need to request specific holiday days to receive holiday pay. You can work or take holiday anytime you wish. Holiday pay will be added to your account automatically as an additional payment.

We will automatically enrol you into a pension plan with contributions from Uber in addition to contributions from you, including:

• 3% Uber contribution (based on qualifying earnings) if you make a 5% Worker contribution
• Once your pension is set up, you will have the opportunity to opt out and adjust your contributions.

If you do not want to contribute 5% of your earnings into your pension, you will need to opt out of the pension scheme.

Once your pension is set up, you will have the opportunity to opt out and adjust your contributions. Until then, there is nothing to opt out from. Note that if you opt out, there will be no contributions from Uber.

You can find out more about the Uber pension scheme here.

Although there are no additional protections for sick pay for drivers, we are committed to making sure you have financial security when life-changing events happen. Uber launched Partner Protection on 1 June 2018, which protects eligible drivers with insurance from Allianz. Events like sickness don’t have to come with all of the additional financial stress. Read more about Partner Protection here.

Upfront pricing is still used to calculate the correct trip payment for riders and drivers and this will remain unchanged.
Read more about Upfront Pricing here.

Yes, you will still be able to use instant cashouts to access your earnings faster. There will still be a £0.50 charge for this option.

You will not be able to access additional future payments, including your weekly payment to reflect holiday pay, on demand. These will be paid on a weekly basis and are not accessible through instant cashout.
For more details on instant cashouts, see here.

Yes - your Uber Pro tier status and access to benefits (including Open University) will remain unchanged. See terms here.