Participatory research with couriers in the UK app-based delivery sector

Written on 17 January 2022.

FLEX’s new report, “The gig is up”: Participatory research with couriers in the UK app-based delivery sector, investigates what issues app-based couriers are facing at work, what change they would like to see, and the factors which may create risk of labour abuse and exploitation in the platform economy. It uses a feminist participatory action research (FPAR) approach where workers from the sector were involved as paid peer researchers throughout, enabling them to shape the research findings and recommendations.

The research found several concerning issues experienced by app-based couriers, such as inability to access employment protections, low and unpredictable earnings, and work-related violence. Given the exponential growth of platform-based work, the report makes a number of recommendations for improving workers’ situation, as they themselves articulate them.