In a new law, workers are now entitled to receive all tips from customers at the end of the working month. This law sets out to ban firms from withholding these tip payments, by cash or card.
This is set to benefit more than three million service workers in England, Scotland and Wales. If companies keep tips, employees will have grounds to bring claims to an employment tribunal.
“These are the lowest paid workers in the British economy and they are going to benefit massively from this,” said Bryan Simpson, hospitality organiser for the union Unite.
For transparency and fairness, staff will also be able to request a breakdown of how their tips are distributed every quarter.
Meanwhile, the law has not yet been introduce in Northern Ireland, which Unite said was “completely unacceptable”.
This new law will set out to bring transparency to employees for the payment they have earned, and will allow their independence from companies.