There has been a change in the law regarding tips to waiters and waitresses, as the company is not allowed now to have service charges included in their salaries and get away will paying less than the minimum wage.

All waiting on staff will be paid the minimum wage and then the service charges will be applied as a bonus but the company is allowed now to take a portion of it to cover administration costs and the employee will pay more in income tax.

I am not going to go on about all the changes in the law but when you are out having a meal it is well worth finding out how the service charge is paid to the staff and one way to make sure they get their fare share is to pay them in cash rather than adding to the bill so they can get it directly for the service they have provided to you.