Do we like them?

Do we like Deliveroo?

Food and grocery delivery app using self-employed riders; based in London, now part of DoorDash.

Our score: 4 out of 10. Mixed, leaning cautious. It's a useful service, but it has fought riders over employment rights. It's now a DoorDash unit, so there's nothing left to back directly.

Deliveroo is a London-based delivery app. It works with about 176,000 restaurants, grocers and retailers and over 130,000 riders. DoorDash bought it in a deal worth about £2.9bn, and a UK High Court approved it in 2025.

The big fight has been over rider status. The UK Supreme Court ruled unanimously that riders aren't in an 'employment relationship', so they can't bargain collectively through a union. The court pointed to riders being able to send a substitute and turn down work.

Other countries went the other way. The Amsterdam Court of Appeal found Dutch riders work under an employment contract, and the Dutch Supreme Court later followed that approach. In Australia, the Fair Work Commission ruled against Deliveroo in a test case on employee status.

After the takeover, DoorDash said it would honour Deliveroo's agreement with the GMB union. It is also expected to review the merged group, which could cut 1-3% of the combined workforce, mostly in admin roles. We'd call it a mixed bag: a handy service built on a model courts keep questioning.