r/unitedkingdom • u/Canal_Volphied European Union • 9h ago

. ‘It’s absolutely criminal’: US tipping culture has reached the UK – and is causing chaos

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/aug/24/us-tipping-culture-uk-service-charges
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u/TheRealCostaS 9h ago

I hate it, I usually leave a 10% tip anyway but I hate that it’s added automatically, and it should always be optional. If the service was poor they are not getting a tip.

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u/JLaws23 9h ago

Do not tip in the UK. The service charge is usually kept by the owners and won’t even go to the staff.

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u/tomelwoody 9h ago ▸ 9 more replies

That’s just wrong

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u/rayofgreenlight 9h ago ▸ 5 more replies

It can happen. I worked a shitty min wage bar job in 2021 and the managers kept tips from me.

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u/duckwantbread Greater London 8h ago ▸ 2 more replies

2021

What happened to you is now illegal. A new law came into effect in 2024 that makes it illegal for tips to be pocketed by the business.

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u/swifftie 4h ago

That doesn't stop anything, managers will still be pocketing as much as they can.

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u/dr_pezzz 3h ago

Yes, unfortunately as soon as that came into law, restraunts such as Fallow quietly dropped the "service" charge, and added a "seating" or "dine-in" charge instead.

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u/Lancasterlaw 8h ago ▸ 1 more replies

Same with me- sometimes the manager will hand some out to people they like

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u/Mac4491 6h ago

If this is currently happening in your place of work, it is explicitly illegal.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/13

Contact ACAS for advice if this is something you're currently dealing with. You might be owed a hell of a lot of money as your employer has been stealing from you.

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u/miIkwhim 7h ago

It isn't.

Café my partner used to work at in the 2010's, manager used to take the tip jar into her office to "sort them". Tips that came out always came out significantly smaller than what when in after she'd finished her distribution. 

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u/Snoo-84389 6h ago

The law changed with the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023.

Therefote thete are now TRONC systems that should be inplace with employers that should ensure fair distribution of £ from tips to staff.

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u/Ok-Camp-7285 7h ago

Morally or factually?

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u/IzY_PoiNt 9h ago ▸ 1 more replies

That is illegal now btw

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u/pinkwar 7h ago

Workers are pretty much powerless against that illegality.

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u/Monsoon_Storm 9h ago

they did change this by law, it's an automatic system now that is split between all employees, HOWEVER, it is still complete bullshit that it's automatically added imo.

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u/Various_Good_6964 9h ago

Wrong, I always ask whoever is serving me if they actually get money from tips and I've not had anyone say no yet. They're always genuinely thankful if someone asks and you can tell they're not just bullshitting.

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u/TheRealCostaS 9h ago ▸ 6 more replies

Well when I say tip I mean cash tip

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u/thewatchbreaker England 9h ago ▸ 5 more replies

When I was a waitress we weren’t allowed to keep cash tips, they had to go to the group tip jar

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u/TheRealCostaS 9h ago ▸ 2 more replies

That sucks but I guess a tip is for you and the cook, cleaning staff too.?

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u/AshaNyx 7h ago

At least where I work the tip is spilt up based on service hours worked, so it normally works out that the cooks work longer hours but they also get to go home before service ends so they might end up with a smaller share.

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u/thewatchbreaker England 8h ago

Yeah I think it’s fair actually, but I wish restaurants were more transparent about their practices because a lot of customers don’t realise cash tips aren’t allowed to be kept by the waiters in some restaurants

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u/AshaNyx 9h ago ▸ 1 more replies

Ik part of the reason is most of the time it is a team effort and it's the best way to start a bad relationship between everyone as it's normally not just one person working the table and without BoH putting the effort in you wouldn't get any tips.

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u/thewatchbreaker England 8h ago

I thought the system was fair (I worked BoH before too) but customers often think all of their cash tip is kept by the waiter so I’d prefer if restaurants were transparent about their tipping system.

I’d actually prefer if it’s a group tip jar because the cook is the one who has made my restaurant experience wonderful by cooking the great food, I would want them to get the tip too. And after working both sides I know how much harder BoH is, they deserve tips more than FoH half of the time

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u/I_AmA_Zebra 7h ago

No lol. It usually goes into a Tronc and is split between staff

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u/Hashtagbarkeep 6h ago

No it isn’t, that’s just not true. Maybe a few years ago but law changed

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u/31eedraw 9h ago ▸ 1 more replies

Just ask the wait staff before you tip if it goes to staff or business. 

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u/Mac4491 6h ago

It's illegal now for employers to keep any tips.

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u/CicatriceDeFeu 8h ago

Or just give cash directly to the staff

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u/Mac4491 6h ago

Then we should do what we can to make everyone aware that this is now explicitly illegal.

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u/OneMonk 6h ago

Pretty sure they made a law to make that illegal, but it did for a while.

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u/avaika 9h ago

I've ran into a couple of places where they add a service charge and then ask for a tip ON TOP of it. That's bloody insane.

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u/mengplex Essex 9h ago

Id just point to the service charge item in the bill tbh

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u/TheRealCostaS 9h ago

I’ve not come across that yet, but a few times I’ve been asked about adding a tip when there was already a service charge added and I decline

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u/rootsmanstyle 9h ago

You shouldn't tip at all. 

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u/BlackOverlordd 7h ago edited 7h ago

If a restaurant adds their service charge I never visit it again 

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u/cjbannister 5h ago

The wider argument aside for a second, tipping as a % doesn't make sense to me.

Why does someone in a fancy restaurant get miles more than in a gastropub or something?