Prime time for a tribunal!

Are Amazon Prime drivers self employed or not?

They’re a common sight on our streets nowadays - the Amazon Prime delivery vans. Amazon has made a big push over the last couple of years to deliver their own parcels, rather than relying on a third party parcel delivery firm.

Every so often I receive adverts telling me how great it is to be a Prime delivery driver and that my local Delivery Service Partner is looking for drivers to help them out. No doubt thousands of people respond and some end up working for the biggest company in the world.

Amazon has a business model which basically entails drivers working on a self employed basis for the Service Delivery Partner, which operates on behalf of Amazon. Of course, being self employed gives you the freedom to work when you want, the freedom to ask a substitute to step in for you if you can’t be bothered to get up in the morning and the freedom to account for your own tax affairs. You use your own tools of the trade, supply your own transport, pay for the repairs, provide your own workwear and PPE and are not subject to a myriad of rules, policies and procedures (albeit there may be certain rules you must abide by to work on sites operated by third parties).

A cursory look at the self employed Amazon Prime drivers and you will be forgiven that few, if any of the above, apply to them.