Waiter and waitress pay in the UK

Split shifts

Many restaurants run split shifts: lunch service, a gap in the afternoon, then dinner. The gap is unpaid if you're free to leave and use the time as you like. If you're asked to stay and fold napkins, polish cutlery or set tables, that time is working time.

Example: 11am to 3pm and 5:30pm to 11pm is 9.5 paid hours, £120.75 at £12.71. If you're kept back for the whole break to prepare, that's 2.5 more working hours, another £31.78.

Where the service charge goes

A discretionary service charge added to the bill (often 12.5%) counts as a tip under the tips law. All of it must go to workers, shared fairly according to the venue's written policy. The employer can't keep a cut to cover card fees or admin.

Fair sharing can include kitchen staff, so your share depends on the policy. You can ask to see the policy and your own tips records, which employers must keep for three years.

Tronc

Lots of restaurants share tips through a tronc run by a troncmaster. Tronc payments go through payroll with income tax, but if the scheme is genuinely independent no National Insurance is due. They should appear as a separate line on your payslip.

Check it monthly

• The hours on your payslip match your shifts, including any time kept back during split shifts
• Your tips or tronc line is there and looks consistent with how busy the month was
• Tips were paid by the end of the month after they were received
• Nothing is deducted for breakages or till shortages that takes your pay below the minimum

Track it shift by shift

Shiftaan keeps every shift, rate and payment in one place, so checking a payslip takes seconds. Try it free.

Common questions