Ivy Collection cuts employee tips after minimum wage increase
A few staff at the restaurant group told The Guardian that their allocated tips had removed any benefit they should have seen from the increase in the minimum wage
Employees at restaurant branches of The Ivy Collection have said they are being short changed on their tips after the company cut their share of the service charge paid by diners when the legal minimum wage increased in April, The Guardian has reported.
A few staff at the restaurant group told The Guardian that their allocated tips had removed any benefit they should have seen from the increase in the minimum wage.
This was also revealed after the restaurant business, which is controlled by billionaire restaurateur Richard Caring, increased its menu prices.
The Ivy Collection, which operates nearly 40 restaurants in the UK and Ireland, reportedly pays all waiters, chefs, some managers and support staff in its outlets the legal minimum wage of £10.42 for over-23s, as well as an hourly “commission” rate graded to their position and location.
Under a system first revealed by The Guardian in 2017, workers also get the same hourly commission no matter how much is collected from the service charge during their working hours.
Cash tips paid by diners on top of the service charge, which are legally seen to be owned directly by staff, are allocated separately, as are those made via credit card.
Workers spoken to by the Guardian said the Ivy Collection had not informed them that their share of the service charge would be cut and that they only discovered what had happened after asking managers why their pay did not appear to have risen after the minimum wage increase.
A spokesperson from the restaurant group said: “Every single member of our staff is guaranteed to be paid above the national minimum wage and all cash or credit card tips are kept directly by the members of the team who received the tip.”
A new law which requires restaurant groups to pay staff all of their tips, including the service charge, is expected to come into force next year. The government is to consult on a code of practice to govern how service charge and tips are allocated, but the new law states this must be done in a “fair and transparent” way.