Plus: Preposterous London property of the week, Lime insists its e-bikes don't pose a threat to your legs, and Transport for London pays for 24/7 security to keep the homeless away from Park Lane.
Can't see pubs lasting much longer if this carries on. A G&T in my local, trendy East London pub is already almost £8 - for a stingy UK measure of gin barely bigger than a tablespoon, it's absolute joke.
Avoiding NI charges has always been the reason behind """optional""" service charges, no? It's just expanding to places where you wouldn't expect them, at much lower rates than restaurants. Give it a few years and you'll be perfectly used to paying 15% service charge on a pint.
Good luck getting them removed. Some servers take it as a personal insult when you ask to remove the service charge. Wonder what the numbers are for people who take the time to get it removed, probably less than 5%?
Doubt it; I suspect it’s a one-way street because unless NI and VAT drop to 0, it’s still more tax efficient. It may have been prompted by increasing rates but once they’re avoiding the tax they won’t go back.
"They said all the money goes to staff via an independent tronc, a technical term for a system used for allocating tips among hospitality staff:"
As someone who worked in a hotel where this was claimed to happen it is a lie. The company will take a share "for administrative costs". In the end the waiters and waitresses just kept the tips and put nothing in the pot.
When I worked in hospitality years ago, it was commonly known that the only way to make sure a tip went to a specific member of staff was to give it to them in cash. No cash = no real tips for good service, and an increasingly cash-free society is better for companies than employees.
On the plus side it seems for a good number of issues, a few weeks to months later we get a piece where the appropriate authority actually has taken or is taking action once the spotlight is shone; like the fake charities
If there’s a tronc in operation then the “troncmaster” is responsible for operating PAYE on payments he/she distributes and for paying deductions to HMRC.
The only adverse issue for me in the service charge would be lack of transparency if the price of the drink is advertised without the service charge (or without “+ voluntary service charge”). But a bigger reason for avoiding these pubs is that are horribly “cashless”. Cue a whole load of transactions on your CC or bank statement that you’ll be hard put to remember or check to know whether they are even genuine - forget the 4%. I’ll avoid these pubs on that ground, not the service charge that helps staff.
Can't see pubs lasting much longer if this carries on. A G&T in my local, trendy East London pub is already almost £8 - for a stingy UK measure of gin barely bigger than a tablespoon, it's absolute joke.
Lime Bike regulation is included in the forthcoming English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. Clauses 18 - 20.
Avoiding NI charges has always been the reason behind """optional""" service charges, no? It's just expanding to places where you wouldn't expect them, at much lower rates than restaurants. Give it a few years and you'll be perfectly used to paying 15% service charge on a pint.
Good luck getting them removed. Some servers take it as a personal insult when you ask to remove the service charge. Wonder what the numbers are for people who take the time to get it removed, probably less than 5%?
If the next government cuts NI back to reasonable levels I imagine this practice will cease
NI should be scrapped and tax adjusted accordingly. NI has been a lie since at least the 1980s, that money doesn't all go to pay the NHS and pensions.
Doubt it; I suspect it’s a one-way street because unless NI and VAT drop to 0, it’s still more tax efficient. It may have been prompted by increasing rates but once they’re avoiding the tax they won’t go back.
"They said all the money goes to staff via an independent tronc, a technical term for a system used for allocating tips among hospitality staff:"
As someone who worked in a hotel where this was claimed to happen it is a lie. The company will take a share "for administrative costs". In the end the waiters and waitresses just kept the tips and put nothing in the pot.
When I worked in hospitality years ago, it was commonly known that the only way to make sure a tip went to a specific member of staff was to give it to them in cash. No cash = no real tips for good service, and an increasingly cash-free society is better for companies than employees.
Sounds like another corporate tax loophole that needs to be closed.
I love this publication, but reading it depresses me. End times indeed.
On the plus side it seems for a good number of issues, a few weeks to months later we get a piece where the appropriate authority actually has taken or is taking action once the spotlight is shone; like the fake charities
Call it what it is - theft. Bc they didn't add any additional product or service.
If there’s a tronc in operation then the “troncmaster” is responsible for operating PAYE on payments he/she distributes and for paying deductions to HMRC.
I'd be happy to pay ge tip to reduce the money the government gets to use on spy flights over Gaza
The only adverse issue for me in the service charge would be lack of transparency if the price of the drink is advertised without the service charge (or without “+ voluntary service charge”). But a bigger reason for avoiding these pubs is that are horribly “cashless”. Cue a whole load of transactions on your CC or bank statement that you’ll be hard put to remember or check to know whether they are even genuine - forget the 4%. I’ll avoid these pubs on that ground, not the service charge that helps staff.