As part of her speech in the House of Commons, Anneliese Midgley MP said: “The trade union Usdaw has found that 77% of delivery workers for major retailers like Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Ocado, Morrisons and Iceland have been victims of abuse last year. A quarter have turned down deliveries because they have feared for their safety and 13% have been physically assaulted.
“I welcome the Government’s commitment to protecting retail workers with the standalone offence, something that Usdaw has campaigned for, but delivery workers are on the frontline too. They deserve the protection that the Government is rightly offering to staff in stores. When Parliament places extra responsibilities on delivery staff, to police much-needed laws on age verification, Parliament should legislate to provide additional protections for them.
“This amendment is backed by trade bodies and trade unions, because they know the reality and they see what delivery workers face every day. While my amendment will not be pushed to a vote today, I’d like to press the Government to meet with me, the unions, trade bodies and employers to look at this in more detail.”
Paddy Lillis – Usdaw general secretary says: “We would welcome the opportunity to meet with the Minister, along with trade bodies and employers, to further explore the protection of delivery drivers as part of the Government’s efforts to tighten up the regulation of the online sale of knives. Delivery drivers are legally required to conduct a final age verification on the customer’s doorstep. These checks also apply to all age-restricted products, including alcohol and tobacco. Our members tell us this can be very problematic and they feel vulnerable to attack. The Crime and Policing Bill includes a much-needed protection of retail workers’ law which we believe should apply to all retail staff, including delivery workers. We hope the Minister is able to meet with us as the Bill now heads to the House of Lords for further scrutiny.”
Notes for editors:
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is one of the fastest growing unions in the TUC and the UK's fifth biggest trade union with around 360,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades www.usdaw.org.uk
Crime and Policing Bill 2025: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3938
For Usdaw press releases visit: www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Bluesky @usdawunion.bsky.social and Twitter/X @UsdawUnion