Addison Lee ruling and back pay (2025-26)

What it is

The 2025-26 Addison Lee rulings are a pair of Employment Tribunal decisions that extended UK gig-driver worker status and set compensation principles likely to push total back pay above £20 million. On 7 January 2025, Leigh Day announced the tribunal ruled that a wider group of Addison Lee drivers are workers entitled to holiday pay and at least the National Minimum Wage. In March 2026, a further tribunal decision set out how compensation is calculated, with more than 900 drivers affected. A separate December 2025 costs order required Addison Lee to pay roughly £200,000 after what the tribunal described as vexatious, abusive and unreasonable conduct.

How it applies to gig workers

These rulings matter beyond Addison Lee because they are the strongest new worker-side authority since Uber BV v Aslam [2021] UKSC 5. Platforms still tell drivers old cases do not apply, that waiting time does not count, or that old claims are out of reach. The March 2026 ruling cuts all three arguments. It said empty time, meaning logged-on waiting time, counts as working time for all drivers driving an Addison Lee vehicle except in narrow mistaken log-on cases. It rejected Addison Lee's argument that Covid-19 breaks in 2020-2021 should cut off lead claimants. It rejected the cheapest fuel-cost method Addison Lee wanted used. And it allowed 8% per year interest on holiday pay compensation.

That changes the maths of a real claim. A 34 year old Uber driver with £42,000 turnover and £8,000 expenses in 2025-26 who thinks they have been underpaid for waiting time can now point to a 2026 ruling confirming waiting time generally counts. The 8% interest figure alone turns a five-year-old holiday pay shortfall into a materially bigger claim. Addison Lee did not break the substitution barrier that Deliveroo hides behind in IWGB v CAC [2023] UKSC 43, but it did crush the argument that old Aslam-style cases have nothing fresh to add.

The April 2026 GMB update on Bolt suggests another tribunal decision has landed on a similar model, again pulling waiting time and multi-apping into focus. The full judgment text was not public at the time of writing. Until it is, GigKiln treats it as a developing signal, not settled law. What is settled is that tribunals in 2025-26 are still moving in a worker-side direction where control, personal service and app-based allocation look real.

What you should do about it

• If you drive for Uber, Bolt, Addison Lee, FREE NOW or any private hire app, save app-on records, trip history, waiting-time logs and every pay statement.
• If a platform or adviser tells you nothing has happened since Aslam, quote the January 2025 and March 2026 Addison Lee decisions.
• If you have been underpaid for waiting time over several tax years, speak to Leigh Day, Bates Wells or Farore Law about joining or starting a claim.
• If you are with GMB, ADCU or IWGB, ask for their current guidance on waiting time, multi-apping and deactivation after these rulings.
• Do not assume winning worker status fixes your tax position — HMRC still treats Uber and Addison Lee income as self-employed trading income.

Last reviewed

19 April 2026

Internal links this page emits:

• Uber BV v Aslam
• worker status explained
• tribunal time limits
• check your waiting-time shortfall
• calculate your holiday pay claim

Primary source used:

• C:\Users\thest\Documents\GigKiln\Research\Gap\G4.1-case-law-update.md