Need to know

• There are huge gaps in how gig workers, remote workers and people in high-pressured jobs are being protected.

• The long hours and lack of safeguards are the biggest failures in the gig economy.

• Platform workers often don’t know if they’re classed as a “worker”, “self-employed”, or something else and high street firms can help to clarify.

Welcome to TSL’s Weekly Edge, whether you’re aiming for a regional or high-street practice, or just want to get a feel for how law works in the real world beyond textbooks, you’re in the right place. 

No corporate jargon, no massive deals, just real useful information designed to give you that extra edge in your legal journey.

🧠Wilson’s Weekly Wisdom

We all have moments in our lives where we feel like we are stuck in a rut.

During my final year of university I got stuck, same routine, same rejections, same quiet panic that maybe this was as far as I was going to get. 

Being stuck in a rut feels uniquely personal, like the universe has singled you out. But here’s the quiet truth. You are never the first person to feel this way. Someone else has sat where you’re sitting, doubting themselves, wondering if they missed the memo everyone else got. And they got through it. Not because they were special or magically more put together. They just kept going on the days it felt pointless. 

If they found a way forward, so can you. Sometimes the bravest move is simply not giving up while you’re stuck.

📣 Your Turn: Ask Us Anything (Almost)

Got a question that’s been quietly bugging you about the legal world, commercial awareness, training contracts, or how regional firms actually work day to day? Good. We want it.

Each month, we’ll pick a question and do a an editorial response. No fluff. No corporate waffle. Just honest, practical answers you can actually use in applications, interviews, and real conversations in firms.

If you’re wondering it, chances are someone else is too. So be brave, be curious, and send it in.

👉 Submit your question here!

💡Spotlight Article

You know that feeling when you’re absolutely starving and your food’s still “with the rider”?

Or when your friend’s in a tizzy because their app job only paid them £18 for three hours of just sitting around being “available”?

That’s gig economy in play!

🔎What’s happening? 

Here’s what’s going on.

European Committee of Social Rights, the ECSR, the Council of Europe’s watchdog for workers’ rights under the European Social Charter, released its 2025 report last month.

And honestly, it didn’t pull any punches!

They pointed out huge gaps in how gig workers, people working from home, and anyone in high-pressure jobs are being protected. In simple terms, it’s work where people are most exposed, least likely to be unionised, and likely to face long, unpredictable hours for unstable pay.

The report called out a few major problems:

• Excessive working hours with hardly any decent safeguards.

• Weak protection for gig economy jobs.

• Gender pay inequality that just won’t go away.

• Low effort to support workers organising in low-union sectors like gig work.

Which means if workers dare push back, team up with others, or want to negotiate better terms, they’re often blocked. The frustrating part is that the UK seemingly hasn’t done much to change that.

❓ Why it matters to high street firms

Gig economy workers aren’t marching into some shiny City firm with a corporate reception desk. They’re walking into high street practices handling the common issues for ordinary folk.

This is where it hits home:

• Worker status confusion will be your daily bread. Platform workers often have no clue if they’re classed as a “worker”, “self-employed”, or something in between. Pay, holiday rights, job security, all affected. You’ll be the one digging through app contracts and algorithm-driven schedules to see whether rights have been denied.

• There’s disputes linked to excessive working patterns. The ECSR was clear that long hours with lacking safeguards are a major failure in gig work. That looks like someone cycling for 10 hours, unpaid waiting time, or even accidents caused by impossible delivery targets. What starts as pay peeves can quickly turn into working time, health and safety, or personal injury issues.

• You’ve got algorithmic discrimination hiding in plain sight. Gender inequality still exists, and gig work is no exception. Algorithms might quietly allocate fewer late-night jobs for “safety”, penalise workers with childcare limits, or bury someone in ratings because of customer bias. Most clients won’t say, “I’m being discriminated against by an algorithm”. They’ll just know something’s off. It’ll be your job to explain that tech can discriminate too, and frame it legally.

That’s the truth of it. High street practice is where these international failures stop being headlines and start being someone’s day-to-day nightmare.

Union/Unionised

It’s about workers sticking together so they’re not just moaning into thin air.

The idea’s simple. On your own, you’re just one email HR may ignore. Together, you’re a group they must listen to.

A workplace can still be unionised even if it’s only some of the staff involved. You don’t need absolutely everyone.

You just need enough people that management can’t pretend it’s “not really a thing”.