Tipping law in UK hospitality hasn't stood still since 2024, and it isn't about to now. Here's the baseline you're almost certainly already working to, what's proposed to change on top of it, and what's worth doing in the next couple of weeks regardless of exactly when the new rules land.

29 Sep
Consultation on revised Code closes
Oct 2026
Expected commencement
3 yrs
Existing record-keeping duty
£5,000
Max tribunal award for non-compliance

The law you're probably already following

The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 has been in force since 1 October 2024, backed by a Statutory Code of Practice on Fair and Transparent Distribution of Tips that tribunals must take into account. The core obligations are straightforward to state, if not always simple to run in practice: tips, gratuities and service charges must be passed on to workers in full, allocated fairly and transparently between them, and paid no later than the end of the month following the month they were received.

If your business takes tips more than occasionally, you're required to have a written tipping policy and make it available to staff. You also need to keep a record of how every tip has been allocated and paid for three years from the date it was received, and respond to a worker's written request to see their own record within four weeks. A worker who believes any of this hasn't happened can bring a claim to an employment tribunal — generally within three months of the failure — and a tribunal can order the policy corrected and award compensation, including up to £5,000 for financial loss.

What's proposed to change from October 2026

Building on that baseline, the Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces a wider set of workplace reforms, and tipping is one of the areas being updated through a revised Statutory Code of Practice. The headline change is a new consultation duty: before introducing a tipping policy for the first time, or reviewing an existing one, employers would need to consult their workforce — through a recognised trade union or elected employee representatives where one exists, or directly with workers where it doesn't.

This is expected to take effect from around October 2026, though the exact commencement date depends on how the government's consultation concludes and the parliamentary steps that follow. It doesn't replace anything in the 2023 Act — the obligation to pass on tips in full, allocate fairly, and keep proper records all stays exactly as it is. It adds a process requirement on top: staff get a genuine say before a policy is set or changed, not just a copy of it after the fact.

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The date that actually matters right now

The consultation on the revised Code closes 29 September 2026. If your business or a representative body wants to respond before it closes, that window is closing fast. Even if you don't respond, it's worth reading the current tipping policy now rather than waiting for the final wording to land.

What to check before the rules change

None of the following depends on the exact commencement date being confirmed, so there's no reason to wait on any of it:

  • Confirm you actually have a written tipping policy, that it's genuinely available to staff, and that it reflects what happens in practice rather than what happened when it was first written.
  • Check who would need to be consulted under the new duty — a recognised trade union, elected staff representatives, or your workforce directly if neither exists — and think about how that consultation would realistically happen at your venue.
  • Review your tip allocation records: are they complete, retrievable within four weeks if a worker asks, and kept for the full three-year window?
  • If tips are pooled through a tronc, check the troncmaster arrangement is documented and that allocation between roles and shifts is something you could explain clearly if challenged.

Where your EPOS fits into this

None of this is a feature you buy — it's a process and record-keeping obligation, and the business itself has to own the policy and the consultation. What a modern EPOS system genuinely helps with is the record-keeping side that sits underneath it. Card tips, added service charges and any tronc-related sales data are already itemised in the platform's transaction records by design, which makes it considerably easier to reconstruct and hand over an accurate allocation record within that four-week response window than it would be from a stack of paper till receipts or a spreadsheet nobody has updated since March.

That's a modest, honest point rather than a compliance shortcut: good digital records don't decide your tipping policy for you, but they do mean that when a worker asks to see their record, or a tribunal asks an employer to demonstrate fair allocation, the underlying data already exists rather than needing to be pieced together after the fact.

"The 2023 Act asked employers to be fair and transparent. The 2026 changes ask them to be fair, transparent, and to have actually asked their staff first." — HDS Cloud Apps

If you run a restaurant, bar, hotel or any venue where tips or service charges are part of the picture, now is a sensible time to get your tipping policy and records in order — not because the deadline is fixed yet, but because none of the groundwork is wasted whenever it lands.

Frequently asked questions

Is there already a law on how tips must be handled in the UK?▾
Yes. The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 has been in force since 1 October 2024, alongside a Statutory Code of Practice on Fair and Transparent Distribution of Tips. It requires employers to pass on tips, gratuities and service charges to workers in full, allocate them fairly and transparently, and distribute them no later than the end of the month following the month they were received.
What is changing with tipping law in October 2026?▾
A revised Statutory Code of Practice on tipping, developed under the Employment Rights Act 2025, is expected to take effect around October 2026. Its central change is a new duty for employers to consult workers — through a recognised trade union or elected representatives, or directly where none exist — before introducing or reviewing a tipping policy.
When does the consultation on the revised tipping Code close?▾
The government's consultation on the revised Code of Practice runs until 29 September 2026. The exact commencement date for the new rules depends on the outcome of that consultation and the parliamentary process that follows it.
Do I need a written tipping policy?▾
If your business receives tips, gratuities or service charges more than occasionally, you are required to have a written tipping policy under the existing 2023 Act, and to make it available to workers.
How long do I need to keep tipping records for?▾
Employers must keep a record of how tips have been allocated and paid for three years from the date the tip was received, and must respond to a worker's written request for their tipping record within four weeks.
What happens if an employer doesn't comply with tipping law?▾
Workers can bring a claim to an employment tribunal, which must generally be presented within three months of the failure to comply. Tribunals can order an employer to revise its tipping practices and can award compensation, including up to £5,000 for financial loss caused by non-compliance.
Does the tipping law cover service charges as well as cash tips?▾
Yes. The rules cover all qualifying tips, gratuities and service charges, whether paid in cash, added to a card payment, or included as a discretionary service charge on the bill — not cash tips alone.