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There’s really no way to know if your tips end up going where they should – to a restaurant’s hard-working staff – but a new proposed private members bill is looking at stopping management holding onto staff tips or taking a cut for themselves. This is, without question, A Very Good Thing Indeed.
The Tip Bill has been put forward by MP for Watford, Dean Russell, who has said: “The idea of the bill, if I can hopefully get it through, is to make it so that effectively tips are protected for the people they’re given to, and businesses can’t assume they’ve got a right to decide what that tip is for.”
After struggling through over a year of lockdown-related closures and job uncertainty, a bit of security for hospitality workers is long overdue. The national officer for hospitality at workers union Unite, Dave Turnbull, is also backing the planned action. “This Private Member’s Bill exposes the Government’s failure to introduce the long-promised fair tips legislation,” says Turnbull. It was a 2015 government consultation that first revealed that customers were keen for their tips to go directly to their waiters.
“Waiting staff, the majority of whom are on the minimum wage, keep being promised jam tomorrow by the Government but in the meantime they continue to be ripped off by unscrupulous employers,” added Turnbull.
The bill will be considered later this year and will also look at ways to formalise the process in which tips are shared amongst workers as well as what the implications might be for businesses who fail to comply.
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