Our research says that tipping culture is shifting — more people have worked in hospitality themselves these days, and they know how much difference tips can make.
Younger generations tend to tip more—often because not long ago they were the ones serving the drinks or clearing the tables. For them, tipping feels like paying it forward, rather than the view of previous generations who could see tipping as condescending or high-handed – or a way of helping employers shirk responsibility, which with the legislative change, just isn’t the case any more.
In the UK, it’s fine not to tip—but for those of us who’ve done the job, we know it feels great when a customer says thanks in a tangible way. Of course employers should pay decent wages too - but it’s a separate argument.
I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who has actually worked in a front-line hospitality job arguing that tipping shouldn’t happen!
The new tipping legislation does help with that – employers now have to make it very clear what are tips – provided by customers - and what are wages - paid by the employer. There’s no scope any more to mix that up, even indirectly.
Early in TiPJAR’s journey I ended up chatting with a university sociology professor about what we were doing. He became quite taken with the idea that maybe tips are becoming ‘micro-appreciations’ — simple, small acts of kindness and gratitude.
That feels increasingly rare in today’s world - so maybe there’s more value than we realise in saying thanks with a tip to the people that poured your drink or served your dinner.
Service Charges
Most of us want and enjoy a vibrant hospitality industry—which is clear, given it supports around 3.5 million jobs and is the third-largest employer in the UK. But running these businesses remains tough—especially after the pandemic, Brexit, surging energy prices, new regulations, and recent policy-driven job losses.
I appreciate people outside of our industry may not realise the approach the UK Government and HMRC takes to service charges is quite unique - and a real help to ensure our hospitality industry remains one of the best in the world.
Service charges historically have been more common in central London – perhaps driven by workers having to meet the much higher cost of living and often long and costly travel requirements, but we are seeing a trend that they are becoming more common elsewhere.
When run properly, service charges mean staff can get a little extra without national insurance costs for the team or their employer.
Service charges also can remove some of the awkwardness around tipping — providing a clear, fair way to show appreciation, and benefitting both the business and team when it’s done right.
Customer confidence
The new tipping legislation is good news — customers can now be confident service charges must go to the people who actually earned them.
Granted service charges might not be right in every case, and I can understand people feeling put out when a service charge shows up without having had what they’d describe as ‘service’!
Of course, at the end of the day, customers will decide what is and isn’t okay - I’d just encourage all of us to appreciate that this approach does massively help - and is part of ensuring we’ll continue to have a hospitality industry we can enjoy and be proud of.
- TiPJAR were amongst the major advocates for legislative change around fair tipping and have championed the development of more innovative approaches. Today they distribute over £120m a year of service charges and tips to 75,000 workers, providing them full transparency and faster access than ever before.