New tipping rules land this month and the obligation sits with the employer, not the customer, to pass on what workers have earned.

Tipping rules 2026: what your employer must do now

Updated 22 October 2026

Three concrete rights land for workers in October 2026. First, every tip, gratuity and service charge you receive at work belongs to you and your colleagues, not the business, and it must be handed over in full and without deductions beyond statutory amounts such as income tax and National Insurance. Second, your employer must have a written tipping policy that explains how tips are collected, shared and paid, and that policy must be available to every worker before it starts. Third, if you are dismissed or treated badly for asking about your tips, that is treated as a detriment and is automatically unfair, with the usual 26 week qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal disapplied for that part of the claim.

What the 2026 tipping law actually requires

The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 and the supporting Code of Practice on Fair and Transparent Distribution of Tips are now fully in force as of 1 October 2026, having been on a phased footing since 2024. The headline rule is simple: tips, gratuities and service charges must be paid to workers, in full, by the end of the month following the month in which they were received, and the employer cannot hold money back for general business costs, administration, processing fees, or to top up wages to the National Living Wage.

Tips include cash left on the table, card tips paid through a card machine, service charges added to bills, and any tip given through an app, QR code or online ordering system. They do not have to be shared equally between every worker, but the policy must be fair, transparent and based on clear, objective criteria such as hours worked, role, or level of customer contact. A policy that only routes tips to managers, or one that pays a lower share to kitchen or cleaning staff, can be challenged as unfair.

If a customer paid a tip on a card and the payment processor takes a fee, that fee can come out of the tip pot, but only the processor's actual percentage, and only the share of the fee that relates to the tip itself. The employer cannot take a cut to cover the cost of payroll software, bookkeeping, or their own time spent on the policy. Workers can ask to see the total amount of tips collected and how it was shared, and the employer has to provide that information within four weeks.

Who is covered by the new tipping rules

Any worker with a contract of employment, a zero hours contract, a casual or agency arrangement, or even a genuinely self employed status where the practical reality looks like employment, is covered. There is no length of service requirement and no earnings threshold. If the person doing the work is classed as a worker, the tipping rules apply to them.

Hospitality and hair and beauty have been the focus of the campaign, but the rules reach further. Delivery drivers, taxi drivers on app platforms, hotel housekeeping, counter staff in takeaway outlets, wedding and events staff, and even warehouse pickers in a customer facing role are within scope where tips are received because of the work they do. Agency workers are covered too: the end user hirer is treated as responsible for passing on tips received from customers, and the agency cannot take a share of those tips for itself.

Tronc schemes, the long established pooling arrangements often run by a separate tronc master, are not banned, but they are now regulated. The tronc must follow a fair, written policy, the tronc master must be independent of the employer's control over who gets what, and a reasonable administration charge can be taken from the pot to cover the tronc master's time. Anything beyond that is a deduction and is unlawful.

How to raise a tipping problem at work

Step one is to ask your employer in writing for a copy of their tipping policy. They have to give it to you, and they have to give it to you within four weeks. Step two is to check whether the policy has been agreed with workers or their representatives, and whether it sets out clear, objective criteria. If you are in a union, your rep can raise it collectively. If not, you can ask for a staff meeting or suggest changes to the policy through a written request.

Step three, if the issue is not resolved, is to raise a formal grievance. Be specific about what tips you believe have been withheld, over what period, and what the policy says. Keep copies of payslips, the rota, and any messages or screenshots that show the tip system in action. Step four is to contact Acas early conciliation. You usually need an early conciliation certificate before you can bring a tribunal claim, and the clock for the claim is three months minus one day from the date the tip should have been paid.

There is a separate, longer route through HMRC if you think your tips have not been properly taxed and you have lost out because of that. HMRC can investigate under the National Minimum Wage rules where tips have been used to bring someone up to the minimum wage, which is no longer allowed under the 2026 framework, and it can recover underpaid amounts and penalties from the employer.

What to do in the meantime

Ask for the written tipping policy now and keep a copy. If there is no policy, raise it in writing and give a deadline. If you can, gather payslips for the last three months and a sample of the tip records for your shift or section so you can see the maths. Talk to colleagues and, if there is appetite, approach the employer together, because collective pressure tends to land faster than a lone complaint. If you are a member of a union, loop your rep in early. If your tips have been withheld or shared unfairly, start the Acas early conciliation process as soon as you can, because the three month window is short and it is the only path to a tribunal award.