This week a ruling in the United Kingdom may prove to be a coup for hard-bitten waiting staff whose wages are less-than-desirable and often below the country's minimum wage limit. The High Court ruled in favour of HM Revenue & Customs to ban restaurants from using tips to top up staff's wages. This method is commonly known as giving a « tronc », or top-up payment, and it allows bosses to pay their staff significantly lower than the minimum wage.

Andrew Garbutt, director at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, explained the situation. «Currently the average base pay for waiting and bar staff is around £3.50 - 3.75 an hour plus tips. In fact, base pay can be as little as £2 an hour. However, by the time this change is introduced the minimum wage will be set at £5.73 an hour, with tips on top.»

Balancing the books
In the UK, waiting staff make up around 50% of a restaurant's staff and their wages already comprise 35% of a restaurants' outgoings, thus the new ruling could be punishing to restaurants who may not be able to balance the price rise by increasing costs on the menu.

The credit crunch such as it is, consumer buying power means that any rise in costs would severely hurt a restaurant's turnover, so for many it is not an option. However, all is not lost as experts say that although restaurant owners will no longer be allowed to pay via a «tronc», tips could be kept by the restaurant to balance their books. The only thing stopping this practice would be a consumer or industry backlash.

Equality for all
A statement by the Department of Business made it clear that the minimum wage should be offered to all workers:

"(It is)essential that all UK workers receive the pay they are entitled to and that everyone earns at least the National Minimum Wage. Equally, it's important that tipping is fair and we are already examining what options are available to help ensure transparency."

For a business that has been particularly hard-hit by the credit-crunch, this ruling proves another blow for struggling restauranteurs. If the new law gives rise to staff cutbacks, will the British public be forced to wait longer for their food?