Portable benefits that follow gig and platform workers from job to job

The problem: people who work through apps or on short contracts often have no employer to provide sick pay, a pension, injury cover or unemployment support, and the arrangements that exist are tied to a single job. The gig economy, a labour market of short-term contracts and freelance work, has grown, and so has the gap in protection.

The proposal: portable benefits accounts that follow the worker, funded by small, automatic contributions from each payment, whichever platform or client made it. The account covers a defined set of basics: injury, sickness, a pension contribution and a contribution to an income-support fund.

Who acts: legislators set the framework; platforms and clients make the contributions; an independent administrator holds the accounts and reports transparently.

Costs and trade-offs: contributions raise costs, and some will be passed to customers or workers. Careful design matters for who counts as a worker and how contributions interact with existing insurance, such as unemployment benefits.

First step: a pilot with one platform and a regulator in a single city, with published outcomes.