A change in the law about giving people tips has just come into force and will affect thousands of workers across Huddersfield.

The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 became law on October 1 which makes it mandatory for all tips to be passed on to workers without deductions in workplaces such as restaurants, cafes and bars.

The new legislation has been fully explained by Steve Bradley, director at Lockwood-based HR Support company Pennine HR.

He said: “Employers must ensure that all tips received by them are distributed in a fair and transparent manner.  Employers are required to have a tipping policy in place which sets out how they intend to deal with tips and also make the policy available to all workers.

“Workers also have a right to request a copy of their tipping record which includes the amounts and dates received in order to enable them to bring a claim to an Employment Tribunal where they believe they are not receiving tips as they should.”

Steve says tips don’t count towards the minimum wage but they are included in income tax and national insurance calculations.

 

Steve Bradley – Pennine HR

 

Pennine HR says the employer’s tipping policy should include:

  • How tips are distributed or shared.
  • The name of the person responsible for managing tips, if there is one.
  • If tips paid directly to staff members by customers are treated differently.
  • Any deductions taken from tips.
  • What happens during leave, for example holidays, sick leave or parental leave.
  • Clarification that tips cannot be pooled across multiple sites or different branches
  • A reminder that employers need to take account of agency workers when considering distribution of tips.
  • Confirmation that employers are responsible for deciding and justifying what roles they treat as being in-scope for the allocation of tips. They should incorporate all involved in providing direct service to customers.
  • An outline tipping policy and tipping record template.
  • A reminder that both failure to distribute tips and failure to provide tipping information can lead to claims in the Employment Tribunal.

Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content, copywriting and ghost-writing autobiographies.