Gig workers to get injury coverage, CPF payments

Govt accepts committee's proposals; policies could kick in as early as 2024

- Clement Yong

Compensation for workplace injuries and Central Provident Fund (CPF) payments are on the cards for cabbies, private-hire car drivers and freelance delivery workers who use apps.

In a major move to uplift more than 73,000 platform workers here, companies that hire them will have to provide standardised insurance protection for those who get hurt during working hours.

As for CPF payments, they will be made compulsory only for those below 30. For everyone else, there is a choice to opt-in or not.

The new policies will kick in in the latter half of 2024, at the earliest, after the Government on Wednesday accepted recommendations made by the Advisory Committee on Platform Workers.

The committee was tasked to look at bolstering gig workers' protection in 2021 and comprises government and industry players, as well as workers and those in academia.

In a nearly 60-page report, the committee said the tighter insurance and CPF measures are so that platform workers receive basic protections that correspond to the level of control platform companies have over their work.

They currently fall in a grey area between full-fledged employees and self-employed people as they can decide the number of hours they work, but cannot set their own prices or build their own client pool.