Restaurant chains told to take their hands out of the tip jar

High street restaurant chains such as Prezzo, Strada and Zizzi will be forced to hand over all tips to staff, Theresa May has announced.

New laws will stop employers making deductions from the money left for workers by diners, the Prime Minister said.

It comes after public dismay about the way some companies dealt with tips, with some keeping back cash. The reforms will apply across England, Scotland and Wales.

Belgo, Bella Italia, Cafe Rouge, Giraffe, Prezzo and Strada are among chains who have made deductions of 10 per cent, while Zizzi and Ask have taken 8 per cent.

Workers at TGI Fridays restaurants staged a series of strikes this year in a pay dispute. Staff at some of the American chain’s restaurants protested against a decision to redirect some tips paid on credit cards from waiting staff to boost the low wages of kitchen workers, as well as “numerous alleged breaches” of the minimum wage and contractual entitlements.

A consultation in 2015 found customers were overwhelmingly in favour of the tips they paid going to servers.

Mrs May said: “We want to ensure that everyone is treated fairly in the workplace. That’s why we will introduce tough new legislation to ensure that workers get to keep all of their tips – banning employers from making any deductions.”

Meanwhile, the Scottish Tories said they would consider plans to tax foreign property buyers more. Mrs May said foreign buyers could be charged between 1 and 3 per cent more in stamp duty to ease the pressure on housing.

Shadow finance secretary Murdo Fraser said: “We need to work up how this translates into the Scottish system, which works differently to stamp duty south of the Border, but in principle we would be supportive of this.”