Tipping law change signals “Fair deal”

Restaurants, pubs and hotels can no longer use tips to top workers’ pay packets up to the minimum wage, following a change in the law.

Billed by the Government as a “fair deal” for workers, the move follows a ‘fair tipping’ consultation that launched in November last year. It comes into effect on the same day that the National Minimum Wage increases by 7p, to £5.80.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has launched a code of best practice in tandem with the change in the law, which contains voluntary measures aimed at improving the information premises offer consumers about where their tips will go.

Trades union Unite celebrated the “victory for waiters and waitresses”, while joint general secretary Derek Simpson urged employers to sign up to the code, citing an “urgent need for the hospitality industry to be transparent”.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said: “When I leave a tip I don’t expect it to be used to make up the minimum wage.

“I want it to go to the person who has served me as a thank you for their service.”

However, the change in the law has not been welcomed by the British Hospitality Association which, according to the BBC, claimed that the new rules could see up to 5,000 jobs being shed.

This summer, the group pre-empted the change in the law by launching its own voluntary code of practice.

IMAGE AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano

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