FOOD delivery drivers warned today that they face a double threat from the coronavirus outbreak: exposure to infection in their job and no access to sick pay if they become ill.

Couriers at firms such as Uber Eats and Deliveroo are classed as self-employed and are not usually entitled to statutory sickness or holiday pay.

Both firms said that they would compensate workers who fall ill with the virus, but neither has said how much they would be paid.

Deliveroo driver Greg Howard said the coronavirus outbreak had exposed a “crisis where those in the gig economy are denied basic rights such as sickness pay, holiday leave and national minimum wage.”

Mr Howard, who is secretary of the couriers’ branch of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain, said losing pay “would leave me in serious financial hardship, like it would any of my colleagues.

“We’re living on the breadline as self-employed couriers.”

One unnamed courier who works for both Uber and Deliveroo said: “I have to work. I would probably take some precautions and probably go out and work still, but cover up and use some sanitisers and that sort of stuff.”

Mick Rix, national officer at general union GMB, said: “Coronavirus is a massive workplace issue for employers and workers across the UK. But for those in the so-called gig economy, the problems are particularly acute.

“They face being left destitute and deserted. They are left with an impossible choice between doing the right thing — self-isolating and protecting the public — or feeding their families and putting a roof over their heads.

“No self-employed worker, no-one in the gig economy and no-one on a zero-hours contract should have to choose between the wellbeing of their family and the health of the nation.”

Deliveroo said it would pay couriers more than the statutory rate of £92.45 per week, though did not give the exact amount.

Uber senior vice-president Andrew Macdonald said drivers who contract the virus “will receive compensation for a period of up to 14 days.”