At the moment, unscrupulous employers can withhold tips from their employees despite them being the intended recipients. This is deeply unfair and impacts some of the lowest paid workers in the country.

Thankfully, back in September 2021, the Government announced its intention to legislate on this issue. It said that the new legislation would include:

• A requirement for all employers to pass on tips to workers without any deductions.
• A Statutory Code of Practice setting out how tips should be distributed to ensure fairness and transparency.
• New rights for workers to make a request for information relating to an employer’s tipping record, enabling them to bring forward a credible claim to an employment tribunal.

I welcome this commitment from the Government and am eager to see these measures implemented. I have submitted a written question to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Kwasi Kwarteng, asking about the timeline for these reforms:

‘To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the timeline is for the implementation of the Government’s reforms to tipping practices, which it announced in September 2021.’

I believe that the law needs to be changed to ensure fairness when it comes to distributing tips and will support this in Parliament. I hope that the Government is as eager as I am to implement its own proposals.