Tips record, tipping policy and staff consultation: now in Yes Chef

Why we built it

Since 1 October 2024 a restaurant must pass every tip and service charge to its staff, share them fairly, pay them by the end of the following month, keep a written tipping policy every worker can see and keep a record of who got what for three years (Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023; statutory code). A further duty, to consult staff before writing or changing the policy, share an anonymised summary of what they said and review the policy every three years, is expected “by the end of 2026”. On 16 October 2026 its code had not been laid, so it is not law yet. Our guide to tipping and tronc law has the detail.

Yes Chef already shared out tronc on its Tronc page, under Money, and kept it apart from pay. Now that page keeps the paperwork too. Everything below is in the web app; the phone app follows with its next update.

The tips record

Record what came in each week by kind: card tips, cash tips, service charge or other. From till brings in the till’s card tips and service charge for the week, replacing what it brought before, so nothing is counted twice.

When you close a period, each person’s share is fixed to the penny and kept. A closed period can be reopened to put a mistake right until it is marked paid; after that it stays as it is. Nothing in Yes Chef deletes a closed period, so the record goes back well beyond the three years the law asks for, including for people who have since left.

Export the record as a CSV for your accountant: one period, one person or a date range. Each member of staff sees their own share of every period on My tips, with whether it has been paid, and can download their own part. That is what the law lets a worker ask for. Nobody sees anyone else’s tips unless they may see pay.

Paid on time

Each period gets a pay-by date: the last day of the month after the period starts, so the earliest tip in it sets the deadline. A week before that date, or once it has passed, the Tronc page shows a warning, and Tips to pay appears on the home page for whoever runs the tronc. Mark a period paid and the date is kept with it.

Your tipping policy

Start your policy from a template that follows the statutory code (the same headings as our tipping policy template), edit it and publish it. Each change is a new version. Staff read the published policy on their own Tipping policy page, and the Tronc page shows Read 7/12 style counts of who has read the current version, and when.

A review date that reminds you

A published policy gets a review date three years on, which you can move. Whoever runs the tronc gets a notice at 9am thirty days before it, and again on the day.

Your troncmaster, on record

Name who runs your tronc: someone on your staff, someone outside the business, or nobody yet, with a switch for whether they are independent. A label shows where that leaves National Insurance: No NI, NI due or No troncmaster. Staff see who runs it on their Tipping policy page.

Asking your staff

Choose Ask staff on a draft and everyone at the site can give their view, once, on their Tipping policy page. Views are stored with no name attached, and you read them only after you close it. Yes Chef then drafts an anonymised summary from the views for you to edit, and when you share it, staff see it beside the policy.

Tips on the rota

Once a period is closed, each shift on the rota shows its part of the tips. Staff see their own shifts’; whoever may see pay sees everyone’s.

Ask Yes Chef

Staff can ask “how much tronc did I get?” or “what’s our tipping policy?”, and whoever sees pay can ask whether last month’s tronc has been paid. Answers come from the same record, with the same rules about who sees what.

What it does not do

• It is not legal advice, and it does not check that your policy is fair.
• It does not run payroll. The payroll export carries tronc in its own column, apart from gross pay, for whoever does.
• It does not decide your National Insurance position. That follows who decides the split.

Questions people ask