Thousands of Bolt drivers won their legal claim to be recognised as workers, securing rights to paid holidays and a minimum wage.

After the landmark ruling, handed down by an employment tribunal on Friday, law firm Leigh Day said the compensation owed to the 15,000 drivers they represent could be worth more than £200m.

The tribunal determined that the relationship between Bolt and its drivers does not constitute self-employment, as claimed by Bolt, but rather an employment arrangement, granting the drivers essential worker protections under employment law.

It affects all of the 100,000-plus drivers who take on work through the Bolt ride hailing app, Leigh Day said.

This decision was reached following a three-week hearing in September 2024.

Leigh Day, who also represented Uber drivers in a similar successful claim in 2021, contends that each Bolt driver could be entitled to over £15,000 in backdated compensation for underpayment and unpaid holiday pay.

The ruling impacts over 100,000 drivers using Bolt’s private hire hailing app, who can now seek worker status.

Ahead of the hearing, Bolt announced it would start offering holiday pay and the national living wage from August 2024.

The tribunal ruled drivers must be compensated not only for trips but also for time spent logged into the app, provided they are not logged into other private hire apps simultaneously.

Further hearings are scheduled to determine the exact compensation amounts for the affected drivers.

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Leigh Day employment solicitor Charlotte Pettman said the ruling marks a significant step forward in securing fair treatment for gig economy workers.

“We are very pleased that the employment tribunal has found in favour of our Bolt driver clients,” Ms Pettman said.

“This judgment confirms that gig economy operators cannot continue to falsely classify their workers as independent contractors running their own business to avoid providing the rights those workers are properly entitled to.”

“We call on Bolt to compensate our clients without further delay,” she added.

Bolt, which has its headquarters in Estonia, has yet to comment on the tribunal’s decision.

A parallel claim on behalf of hundreds of Ola drivers is due to be heard by the London Central Employment Tribunal from Tuesday. It is scheduled to last for eight days.

The advisory firm which managed the insolvency of Bulb Energy in 2021 is kicking off a hunt for new backers in a process that could value it at about $2bn (£1.5bn).

Sky News has learnt that Teneo, which is based in the US, has begun approaching prospective investors in recent days to gauge their appetite to buy a major stake in the company.

One private equity source said Teneo was working with advisers, said to be Guggenheim Partners, on the process.

Teneo has become a sprawling advisory firm, spanning public relations, restructuring and other areas of corporate consulting and strategic advice.

It employs hundreds of people in London, with clients including Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the DIY retailer Kingfisher and Clayton Dubilier & Rice, the global buyout firm.

The company has been backed by CVC Capital Partners, the private equity backer of Six Nations Rugby, since 2019.

Prior to that, BC Partners, another investor, owned a stake in the business.

Teneo has grown rapidly through a string of acquisitions, the most notable of which was the purchase in 2021 of Deloitte’s UK restructuring arm.

Since then, the division has worked on the special administration of the collapsed energy retailer Bulb – the first such process of its kind in the UK – and the insolvency of the UK arm of Russian bank VTB, which was hit by the imposition of sanctions following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Teneo has also bought a number of smaller restructuring firms, including Goldin Associates in the US and Credo in the UK.

CVC is understood to own a majority stake in Teneo, and it was unclear on Friday whether it would seek to offload all of its interest or remain as a shareholder after any new investor backs the business.

A number of parties are understood to have begun being sounded out, with one of those approached saying that Teneo’s growth trajectory meant that it was likely to attract a significant level of interest.

The process is unlikely to conclude until sometime next year, they said.

Teneo is understood to be on track for a record year in financial terms, with its financial advisory business driving a significant proportion of its improvement in revenue and profit.

It is chaired by Ursula Burns, the former chairwoman of Xerox Corporation and one of the most prominent Black businesswomen in the US.

The company was founded by Declan Kelly, an influential adviser to numerous American CEOs who was forced to resign in 2021 following allegations of drunken misconduct at a concert in California.

News of the search for new backers to aid Teneo’s continued international growth comes amid a hot streak for deals involving professional services firms.

In Britain, Grant Thornton, the accountancy firm, is exploring the sale of a big stake, with a small number of bidders still in talks.

Evelyn Partners is in discussions to sell its accountancy arm, while Cooper Parry, another player in the sector, is also up for sale.

CVC declined to comment.

The baby formula market needs a shake-up to help parents struggling to afford it, according to the UK’s competition watchdog.

There are “limited incentives” for the industry to compete on price and parents have suffered the consequences of high prices, said an interim report by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The watchdog has previously reported a 25% increase in prices over the past two years, with just two companies, Nestle and Danone, controlling 85% of the market.

Among its recommendations is a call for better public health messaging and clarity for parents trying to choose between different brands.

The CMA also confirmed it is examining the effect a price cap would have, but said it is not currently recommending one.

The report said: “The CMA has provisionally found that – unlike in many other grocery categories – there is little pressure on manufacturers or retailers to shelter customers from increases in manufacturing costs, which have largely been passed on quickly and in full.”

Sarah Cardell, the CMA’s chief executive, said: “This is a very important and unique market.

“We’re concerned that companies don’t compete strongly on price and many parents – who may be choosing infant formula in vulnerable circumstances and without clear information – opt for more expensive products, equating higher costs with better quality for their baby.

“We have identified options for change, but now want to work closely with governments in all parts of the UK, as well as other stakeholders, as we develop our final recommendations.”

The CMA expects to publish a final report in February. Earlier this year, the regulator announced that it would inspect baby formula prices amid concerns that they remain “historically high.”

Its decision to launch a market study gave it the authority to require suppliers to disclose detailed information on pricing and other practices.

Previously, the CMA relied on voluntary submissions from suppliers.

In 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged governments to act over soaring baby formula prices, which it said was “exploiting” families in the UK.

In an interview with Sky News, WHO criticised multinational manufacturers for “manipulating prices” to boost profits on baby formula.

Research at the time showed that formula prices in the UK had risen by 24% over the previous two years, with the lowest-cost brands seeing a 45% increase during that period.

WHO is calling on governments to step in and help ease the burden on struggling families by finding ways to lower prices in stores.

Sky News has previously reported on the extreme measures some parents are taking to feed their infants, including stealing formula, purchasing it on the black market, diluting bottles, or using condensed milk as a substitute.

Laurence Grummer-Strawn, WHO technical officer, told Sky News, “It’s shocking to see a high-income country like the UK facing situations where mothers can’t afford to feed their babies.”

When asked if this situation constituted exploitation, Grummer-Strawn said: “Yes, I think we can say that when you see that these prices are being driven down to the consumers and having to pay extremely high prices.”

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