Written Answer to PQ on inspections to ensure that food delivery riders are legitimate workers

NOTICE PAPER NO. 3063 OF 2024 FOR THE SITTING ON OR AFTER 11 SEPTEMBER 2024

QUESTION NO. 6109 FOR WRITTEN ANSWER

MP: Assoc Prof Jamus Lim

To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) apart from acting on complaints received, whether the Ministry conducts proactive inspections to ensure that food delivery riders working for the major food delivery platforms as freelancers are legitimate workers who are Singapore citizens or permanent residents; (b) if so, how often are these checks conducted; and (c) what is the total number of violations or arrests that have resulted from such checks in the past six months. 

Answer:

1. MOM has worked with food delivery platform operators to advise riders against allowing foreigners to use or share their food delivery accounts. Platforms operators can also enhance their processes to prevent the misuse of accounts by unauthorised parties. Working through platform operators is more effective and efficient than conducting proactive inspection, given the decentralised and mobile nature of food delivery work.

2. MOM also acts on complaints to weed out these practices. This is also an effective channel of enforcement as legitimate workers have an interest in raising cases of offences to the authorities. From January to June 2024, MOM received a total of 14 complaints on suspected illegal foreign delivery riders. Enforcement action was taken against one case as the other cases were found to be unsubstantiated.