Not allowed tips as handed in my notice

[FuzzyBumbleeBee]

So the company I worked for up until last week keeps tips all year round and shares them out at Christmas.

Becuse I left the company I enquired as to tips after my last pay check via email
And this is the response

Is this legal?
I know the law changed in 2024 but it's going to cause alot of backlash if I challenge thos and am not correct

Short answer is that I don't know, so a hopefully bump to someone that does. What is in your T&C's?

How would they calculate how much to pay you in tips though when you've left part way through the year?

Doesn’t sound right. Do you have a contract and was that arrangement written into it?

Provisions of Tipping Act
33. On handling tips, the Tipping Act states that employers must ensure that all tips are distributed to staff, at the latest, by the end of the month following the month in which the tips are paid by customers (section 27G). For example, if a customer leaves a tip on 23 June, it must be distributed by 31 July at the latest.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/distributing-tips-fairly-statutory-code-of-practice/code-of-practice-on-fair-and-transparent-distribution-of-tips-html-version#fairness

There should be a staff handbook (more likely if it's a chain or franchise, and there should be a written policy about this.

If there is, then you are ass-u-me-d to have been aware of it before you quit; if there isn't then you may have a basis for a claim

It's a family run local business,

The tip jar is emptied regularly, counted up and added to previous times it was emptied in the safe so they would have a good idea of how much.

I happen to know it was counted up again the day I left.

Last year the owners counted up the final figure and distributed it out between staff.
Nobody knows how much we each got

From how much I know was already in it my guess would be £50-60 is due to me
Not much in general, it would make a big difference to my summer with the kids as have moved from weekly to monthly pay and am rather strapped for cash.

I will have a look at my old contract now but I don't recall anything in it regarding tips

You need to see where this rule is written. I think personally that it should be pro-ratad - you cant be the only person that has ever left mid year and you earned those tips.

The rule isn't written anywhere, I double checked my old contact.

I have received this email from them today after I pointed out that the law changed late last year.

It's not much money but it's still money I earnt by managing their business for months while they were away, they spend at least a 3rd of the year away, fostering good customer relations and covering constantly when others called in sick.

I don't earn much over minimum wage, have 2 kids and it's the summer holidays so every little helps

I think its the "if you feel you are due" that has upset me the most

I don't even know how to reply to this as I worked so hard for them

Ask, very politely, for the amount you’re owed

ignore snide comments; just ask politely and firmly

UNLESS you need a reference from them. Then weigh in the balance of if it’s worth it.

So if someone joins the company 1st December they get tips for the whole year?

I would just reply to say thank you for the information and you would be grateful if they could forward your share by return

Yes, it’s only £28 but it’s your £28! You can buy groceries for a meal for your children wirh this money.
I don’t understand their rule anyway - so if anyone joins the company on 1 December they get the same tip after working for a month as someone who joined on 1 Jan of that year? Surely it should be pro-rata, depending on how many months of the year someone has worked.
It shouldn’t matter what is written down, this is an unfair term as it means that anyone who leaves the company at any point before Xmas doesn’t get tips for their final year. The rule has to be rewritten so someone should stand up to them.

Raise a grievance and ask for your tip. You have 3 months to make a claim in an employment tribunal - this is free but it won’t get to that, I’m sure they’ll pay rather than have a claim against them. And if you’re embarrassed to ask because the amount is small, just tell them that it’s not about the amount, it’s about fairness.

How long were you working for them? At what point in the year did you join?

Thankfully I have already started my new job so reference is already sorted.

Last year tips were calculated with regards to how many days you worked a week, so someone doing 4 would get less of a share than someone doing 5
I only started at the end of April last year and got £90 for the 7months as they did them in November

Yes I only managed a year and 3 months, I have never worked anywhere like that before and never will again.

I won't be collecting it myself, I wouldn't put it past them to ban me if I walked in there or shout at me infront of customers.
They do this if you don't clear tables quickly enough, the comments they make are not kind either.

I will either ask a friend who still works there to bring it home with her or get Dp to collect as the owners son has a temper but is wary of Dp due to his size.

There are multiple others who have left this year and forfitted their tips 9 since Christmas, I am tempted to contact a couple of them regarding the law but they are young and unlikely to argue the point.

It's a shame as I like walking the dogs in that particular part of town and will be avoiding it now

Exactly! I worked hard making it a good experience for customers in a very busy environment.
I don't " feel like I am due"
I am due! I earnt it

During the winter nobody new is taken on
Only some of the staff have contracts the rest don't have them so that they can have hours dropped and days switched as the season changes and it gets quieter
Once the summer season ends it will drop back to core staff and the others will get few or no hours.

Did you quote the paragraph I posted earlier, which was an extract from Government guidance on distributing tips?

Their approach isn’t compliant with that.

I did use the paragraph and sent a link to the employment act

I'm not surprised this Is their response it's better than I had hoped for even if it's disappointing.

By my maths it should come up different as one person only started 3 weeks ago and 5 started somewhere in the June/july range,
The tips are dated as to when they are put in the safe so it should have been easy to ssplit correctly.

Well you are definitely well out of there and congratulations on your new job!

Their message seems to say you can get your share, if I am reading it right? Never mind the pass-agg ‘if you feel you are due’ - ignore that and contact whoever they said to get your £28. I wouldn’t then give it any more thought, you’re better off now.

If it’s the same as where I worked no.

i worked in a hotel that did this, all tips were collected up for the year and the office admin work workout how much everyone was owed based on how many hours per week they work. It meant every staff member got something including the pot washer, cleaners etc.The tips were paid out in Xmas wage so if you left before Xmas you didn’t get your tips. If you started the week before Xmas you would get a pro rata amount.

So a change of plan now

After the email from the owner, the manager, who happens to be a family member has said no as they will have to do it for all the staff that have left

This was not a direct message from them but passed on to me

.... at this stage I am thinking I need to contact acas

Contact them again, remind them that they are contravening the government policy, and tell them that you (your DP) WILL be collecting the money owed on X date so please have it ready.

If they write to refuse, ask them on what legal grounds they are doing so as you want to make sure that you present the situation accurately to ACAS when you contact them.

Look at your household policy for legal expenses, it usually includes employment disputes. My DDiL recently used her LE for a small problem and after one letter from the solicitor it was sorted!

What complete cheeky fuckers. Take them down OP

Need to edit but can't find the button,
The manager is a family member of the owners

I have messaged the manager directly and asked them to confirm that I will not be receiving my portion of the tips

They have seen the message as the company primarily uses WhatsApp but have not replied

Back to work for now

I finish at 5 so will be calling acas for their advice once I'm finished for the day

Just incase anyone else is ever in a similar position I will update

So I called acas and they sent me a template for a grievance letter
I sent this via email and received a response a few days later saying that they had "spoken to all staff who were in agreement" that the verbal policy stands and they are confused why I didn't challenge it sooner when others had left.
They also mentioned that as I had kicked up such a kiss, not in those words that the policy would now be written onto.cobtracts from now on.

From my understanding as they have now admitted it's a verbal policy that should help me.

I called acas again today and they have said to try for concilliation and of this dosent work I can use the ref number I get from it to take them to a tribunal.

Well if you were to go by what the government website says then yes, you AND all the staff should have their tips by the end of each month