DELIVEROO’S attempts to buy off couriers with free accident insurance while denying them full employment rights is a “laughably bad joke,” unions say.

The much-criticised courier firm is spending £10 million to equip 35,000 riders in 12 countries with an insurance package that will cover up to £7,500 of medical expenses and up to 75 per cent of average gross income if they are injured while working.

The new deal will apply to all couriers, but only while they are logged in and marked as available on the Deliveroo app and for up to one hour after logging off.

Its offer is being touted as an improvement on the “exclusive” £1.85-a-week accident and personal sickness and injury cover made available to the firm’s British food delivery riders in December.

But the company said that awarding further benefits would risk classifying self-employed workers as staff, with Deliveroo founder Will Shu outlandishly claiming: “We would like to go further but are currently constrained by the law.

“Deliveroo will continue arguing for the law to be updated so on-demand companies can offer both flexibility and security.”

Both GMB and the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) said Deliveroo needed to go much further.

GMB national officer Mick Rix welcomed the fact that “Deliveroo finally appears to be taking the safety of its workers seriously.

“But the company, along with other gig-economy employers, must wake up to its other responsibilities and pay the national living wage for all time worked, along with holiday and sick pay.”

IWGB courier branch chair Megan Brown said: “It is a laughably bad joke that Deliveroo denies its riders worker rights while pretending to be on their side.

“There is nothing in the law that prevents Deliveroo from offering its riders both a flexible working arrangement and worker rights, including guaranteed minimum wage and holiday pay.

“The idea that this is impossible is a myth that serves only Deliveroo and other unscrupulous companies wishing to flout their responsibilities.”

The IWGB is currently challenging November’s Central Arbitration Committee ruling that Deliveroo couriers are not workers and therefore not entitled to collective bargaining rights, holiday pay or the minimum wage.