LONDON: The UK is to become the first country to create a “trustmark” for the growing number of app businesses that enable people to rent personal property or offer themselves for hire as taxi drivers, cleaners or a minder for the family pet.
The government-endorsed standard reflects the enthusiasm with which Britons have embraced services such as taxi hailing apps, crowdfunding websites and online holiday rentals.
PwC recently estimated the combined value of the global sector — popularly known as the “sharing economy” — to have risen to $15bn. In the UK, peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding are believed to handle more than £1.6bn in loans and investments.
The growth of these disruptive business models has been helped by the UK’s light-touch regulation of internet start-ups, using legislation created for the incumbent providers they hope to replace.
But concerns have also surfaced that the new providers, such as taxi booking business Uber, are undercutting established rivals by failing to ensure those delivering the services receive a fair wage or basic employment rights.
Minimum requirements for the UK trustmark will be set by a team from the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford university’s Saïd Business School, working in partnership with the recently created trade body Sharing Economy UK.
Jeff Skoll, who funded the creation of the centre, was the first president of online auctioneer eBay, a pioneer among the type of businesses the trustmark aims to verify.
