Cash tips law UK: jars, tills and who they belong to

If a customer leaves notes on the table, drops coins in a jar or adds a tip on the card machine, you need to know which pounds the law treats as a qualifying tip. In Great Britain the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 has applied since 1 October 2024. It covers England, Scotland and Wales, not Northern Ireland.

Cash is one way a customer pays. What matters is whether your business receives the money, or whether you control or significantly influence how it is shared. This is information, not legal advice. Acas can help for free, or you can speak to an employment solicitor.

When cash tips are qualifying tips

GOV.UK’s Distributing tips fairly guidance and the statutory Code of Practice (both checked October 2026) say a qualifying tip is a tip, gratuity or service charge paid by a customer that the employer receives, or over which the employer exercises control or significant influence over allocation.

How the cash arrives	Does the Act usually apply?
Shared jar that the house empties and shares	Yes, you receive it or control the split
Cash put through the till	Yes
Cash handed to a manager to pool	Yes
Note given to one worker who keeps it, and you have no say	Usually no

A jar, till, card reader or app that puts money in the business’s hands, or a split you set the rules for, is the usual test for pubs, restaurants, cafés, hotels, salons, barbers and taxi firms. The tipping law checklist walks through the duties in order.

Cash a worker keeps, with no house control

GOV.UK is plain: cash given directly to a worker is not a qualifying tip if you do not receive it and you do not control or significantly influence how it is allocated.

That often includes a note pressed into a server’s hand that they keep with no pooling, cash left for one employed stylist that you never collect, and a taxi passenger tipping the driver in the car where the firm never receives the money.

The line is control, not paper versus plastic. If you tell staff to put those notes in a jar, or you write a rule that table cash is pooled, you have taken control. The Act then applies to that money.

Self-employed chair renters in a salon are not covered by the tipping law. Employed stylists, juniors and receptionists are, if the tips qualify. Many private hire drivers count as workers in law, not self-employed. Check each person’s status.

Jars, tills and card pots in one share-out

You can keep cash and card tips in separate pots, or combine them. Either way, every qualifying penny must go to workers. You cannot keep a house cut.

Worked example (illustration only). June cash jar: £214.65. June card tips: £429.15. Combined pot: £643.80. Three workers, split by hours: Alex 42, Blair 35, Casey 28 (105 hours in total).

• Alex: 42 / 105 of £643.80 = £257.52
• Blair: 35 / 105 of £643.80 = £214.60
• Casey: 28 / 105 of £643.80 = £171.68

Those figures add up to £643.80.

If a pot does not divide cleanly, write down the rule for leftover pennies. Example: £100.00 split equally three ways is £33.33, £33.33 and £33.34, with the extra penny going to the person with the most hours that period. Shares must always add up to the pot. The Code of Practice expects a fair method, explained in your policy and applied consistently. Hours, points per role (for example Server 10, Chef 8, KP 6) or a hybrid can all be fair if you follow them. Tiproll splits a mixed cash and card pot this way, to the penny.

Pay by the end of the next month

Qualifying tips, cash included, must be paid by the end of the month after the month the customer left them. GOV.UK states this in Distributing tips fairly. Tips left in June must be paid by 31 July. Tips left in February must be paid by 31 March.

If you empty the jar once a week, still group the money by the calendar month the customer paid. Do not hold January’s cash until a March share-out.

Deductions you cannot make

The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 requires the full amount of qualifying tips to go to workers, subject only to deductions required by law.

You cannot take out card processing fees (even when cash and card sit in one pot), breakages, walkouts, till shortages, an admin fee for doing the split, or a house share for the business.

Tax and National Insurance on tips is a separate subject. HMRC’s E24 guide sets out the general position. This is not tax advice and not National Insurance advice. Ask HMRC or a tax adviser about your own payroll.

Policy, records and the four-week reply

If qualifying tips are paid more than occasionally, you must have a written tipping policy. Every worker at the venue must be able to read it, including agency staff, part-time and zero-hours workers, and people in roles that do not share in tips. Say how cash is handled: jar, till, pooled with cards, or left with the person who received it.

You must keep records of qualifying tips for three years. A worker can ask in writing for the record of tips for whole calendar months they worked in the last three years, once every three months. You must reply within four weeks, counting the day you received the request. A request received on 1 June must be answered by 28 June.

A worker who does not receive qualifying tips in full, fairly and on time can claim in an employment tribunal. A tribunal can order you to pay tips that are owed and can add compensation. For time limits and how to claim, use Acas.

Consultation duties still coming in

The Employment Rights Act 2025 adds duties to consult workers on the tipping policy, share an anonymised summary of that consultation, and review the policy at least every three years. Those duties are not in force yet. They are expected by the end of 2026. GOV.UK has not confirmed a commencement date. Until it does, treat them as coming in, not as law you must already meet. An anonymous consultation is still a fair thing to do now, including on the cash jar rule.

Keep cash on the record

Tiproll writes the tipping policy, runs an anonymous staff consultation, splits every pot to the penny and keeps three years of locked records. You can record a cash jar as a pot (or part of a pot), add card tips, and share by hours or points. Each person sees their own share, never anyone else’s. That is software and templates, not a law firm, and it does not guarantee compliance. Your records stay yours.

If you want a quick read on whether your jar, till and card rules hang together, take the free policy health check. Ten questions, a score, and a list of gaps to fix before the next pay-by date.