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Proposed Bill could enforce handing over of tips to staff

Published:  28 June, 2021

A proposed Tips Bill could force on-trade operators to hand over all tips to their staff, should it be passed by Parliament.

The Bill would ban employers from retaining tips intended for staff and also enable arrangements to be made about how tips are divided between staff.

Several pledges have been made in recent years to stop employers making deductions from money left for their staff by customers, although legislation has failed to materialise.

The new Tips Bill has been brought forward by Conservative MP Dean Russell in a bid to make progress on the issue and put protections in law.

“When we look at the role that many people have when working in bars or restaurants and so on, the tips are often seen as part of the salary in a way – rightly or wrongly,” Russell told the PA news agency. 

“It’s always felt wrong to me that businesses can take the tips that have been given by the customer directly to that individual or to the staff, for businesses to go ‘well, actually, that’s part of the payment for what they’re getting’,” he said. 

There was a need to support the hospitality sector given its struggles during the pandemic, including helping staff via a tips guarantee, he added.

“So, really, the idea of the Tips Bill was thinking, surely there must be some rule or regulation or law that means that, if someone is given a tip, they either can keep that tip and not hand it to the business, or there’s an agreement on how that tip is shared out – so if there’s a pool of tips, surely there must be an agreement in place that isn’t based on informality. 

"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.” 

He said the Bill aimed to ensure “fairness. I think for most people, when they do leave a tip for someone, they’ve left it for that person or for the staff, not for businesses to take an extra chunk of it".

Russell hopes the Bill will be considered further in the Commons on 10 September. He is still developing the detail of the proposals, including what would happen if a firm does not protect tips for staff.