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 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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The Bank of England has forecast Rachel Reeves’s first budget as chancellor will increase inflation by up to half a percentage point over the next two years, contributing to a slower decline in interest rates than previously thought.

Announcing a widely anticipated 0.25 percentage point cut in the base rate to 4.75%, the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) forecast that inflation will return “sustainably” to its target of 2% in the first half of 2027, a year later than at its last meeting.

“Since the MPC’s previous meeting, the market-implied path for the Bank rate in the United Kingdom has shifted up materially,” the MPC said in its minutes.

Interest rate falls – latest updates

The Bank’s quarterly Monetary Policy Report found Ms Reeves’s £70bn package of tax and borrowing measures will place upward pressure on prices, as well as delivering a three-quarter point increase to GDP next year.

Governor Andrew Bailey stressed however that the underlying trend was “continued progress in disinflation”.

The MPC, whose members voted 8-1 in favour of the cut, with the single opponent favouring a hold at 5%, maintained its view that rates will need to fall “gradually” as it monitors the economic response to falling inflation.

“Inflation is just below our 2% target and we have been able to cut interest rates again today,” said Mr Bailey.

“We need to make sure inflation stays close to target, so we can’t cut interest rates too quickly or by too much. But if the economy evolves as we expect it’s likely that interest rates will continue to fall gradually from here.”

Why will inflation rise?

The Bank forecasts that the upward pressure on prices will begin in the first half of next year, with the addition of VAT to private school fees and the £1 increase in the bus fare cap to £3.

The increase in employer national insurance to 15%, the largest single measure in the budget, is “assumed to have a small upward impact on inflation,” offset by the freeze in fuel duty rates.

Together these will push inflation up by 0.3 percentage points next year, with the near-half point peak coming in 2026 only after the removal of the fuel duty-freeze, a measure the Bank is compelled to assume will happen, despite successive chancellors, including Ms Reeves, maintaining it for 11 years.

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The Bank found that the national insurance increase and the uprating in the national living wage “is likely to increase the overall costs of employment”, and will be passed on by employers through a mix of higher prices, marginal costs and wages, but the balance between those is not yet clear.

“The combined effects of the measures announced in the autumn Budget 2024 are provisionally expected to boost the level of GDP by around three-quarter per cent at their peak in a year’s time, relative to the August projections,” the minutes read.

“The budget is provisionally expected to boost CPI inflation by just under half of a percentage point at the peak, reflecting both the indirect effects of the smaller margin of excess supply and direct impacts from the budget measures.”