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Committee Chairs seek assurance from Hermes on mislabelled deliveries

17 October 2017

The Chairs of the Work and Pensions and Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy committees have written back to Hermes following a lengthy response to their initial inquiries, with further questions about alleged mislabelling of parcels for delivery.

Protecting workers' right to fair pay

 Rachel Reeves MP, Chair of BEIS Committee, said:

"As a Committee, we've heard some disturbing testimony about the day-to-day reality of life for couriers, of couriers being told by managers that parcels come before people. How confident can we be that the policies and processes extensively outlined by Hermes are being observed in practice? It's not clear that Hermes themselves can offer that assurance nor is it evident Hermes can guarantee their couriers are in reality receiving the national minimum wage for the packages and parcels they deliver."

Rt Hon Frank Field MP, Chair of Work and Pensions Committee, said:

"This looks distressingly like yet another example of companies using a designation of "self-employed" which does not stand up to any scrutiny to shirk their responsibilities. What does Hermes do to ensure that these pages of systems and procedures they have kindly laid out for us actually protect workers' right to fair pay?"

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