[UK] New law will finally ban restaurants from taking servers’ tips

A new law will at last stop restaurants from taking their servers’ tips following at least six years of procrastination on the matter from the Tory party, the Mirror reports.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is expected to announce plans later this week that will prevent employers from keeping the 12.5 per cent service charge many customers pay by card.

Instead, the law will force bosses to distribute 100 per cent of those service charges fairly between workers, potentially including kitchen staff too.

Sources said the need for change has become “acute” after the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out cash tips for many workers and caused a recruitment crisis in hospitality.

But the move comes five full years since the government first suggested it could change the law and three years after Theresa May said she would change it as soon as possible.

Even after this week’s announcement, no legal change is expected before 2022 at the very earliest, according to the Mirror.

Ministers are exploring the possibility of wrapping the change into the long-awaited Employment Bill, which will not be introduced in this session of Parliament.

Ministers have reportedly said they would change the setup of wait staff’s tips since 2016, following a lengthy consultation.

Theresa May promised to introduce a change to staff tips “as soon as Parliamentary time allows” at Conservative Party Conference in September 2018.

But in 2019, Business Minister Kelly Tolhurst said the legislation would be further delayed until the next session of Parliament.

The 2019 Queen’s Speech promised an Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill to to “support those working hard”.

The Bill would have placed a “legal obligation on employers to pass on all tips, gratuities and service charges to workers without any deductions”.

Employers in England, Wales and Scotland would have been forced to “distribute tips in a fair and transparent manner, where employers have control or significant influence over the distribution of tips”.

But no changes were made before the coronavirus hit and there was no mention made of the Bill in Boris Johnson’s latest Queen’s Speech in 2021.

The change is understood to be modelled on the original plan for the Allocation of Tips Bill from 2019.

It was first suggested years ago when news emerged that chains including Prezzo, Zizzi and Pizza Express deducted between 8 and 10 per cent of tips from employees. All three chains have since reversed the policy.

A new law will at last stop restaurants from taking their servers’ tips following at least six years of procrastination on the matter from the Tory party, the Mirror reports.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is expected to announce plans later this week that will prevent employers from keeping the 12.5 per cent service charge many customers pay by card.

Instead, the law will force bosses to distribute 100 per cent of those service charges fairly between workers, potentially including kitchen staff too.

Sources said the need for change has become “acute” after the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out cash tips for many workers and caused a recruitment crisis in hospitality.

But the move comes five full years since the government first suggested it could change the law and three years after Theresa May said she would change it as soon as possible.

Even after this week’s announcement, no legal change is expected before 2022 at the very earliest, according to the Mirror.

Ministers are exploring the possibility of wrapping the change into the long-awaited Employment Bill, which will not be introduced in this session of Parliament.

Ministers have reportedly said they would change the setup of wait staff’s tips since 2016, following a lengthy consultation.

Theresa May promised to introduce a change to staff tips “as soon as Parliamentary time allows” at Conservative Party Conference in September 2018.

But in 2019, Business Minister Kelly Tolhurst said the legislation would be further delayed until the next session of Parliament.

The 2019 Queen’s Speech promised an Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill to to “support those working hard”.

The Bill would have placed a “legal obligation on employers to pass on all tips, gratuities and service charges to workers without any deductions”.

Employers in England, Wales and Scotland would have been forced to “distribute tips in a fair and transparent manner, where employers have control or significant influence over the distribution of tips”.

But no changes were made before the coronavirus hit and there was no mention made of the Bill in Boris Johnson’s latest Queen’s Speech in 2021.

The change is understood to be modelled on the original plan for the Allocation of Tips Bill from 2019.

It was first suggested years ago when news emerged that chains including Prezzo, Zizzi and Pizza Express deducted between 8 and 10 per cent of tips from employees. All three chains have since reversed the policy.