UK startup thankyü has unveiled an app that lets customers tip hospitality staffers with a tap of their phone against a wearable tipping band.
Hull-based thankyü claims the app is the first decentralised peer-to-peer tipping platform, powered by payments tech firm Viva.com and Mastercard Move.
It means staff can receive and manage their tips quicker, employees don’t have to pay tax or national insurance contributions at source.
It also means that employers don’t have to pay national insurance on the tips. Next month, national insurance for employers increasing to 15%, meaning that a café earning £20,000 in tips a year may have to pay £3,000, says thankyü.
The app also provides a downloadable financial record of tips to help hospitality and service staff fill in self-assessment forms and use as a credit reference to help them secure a loan or a mortgage.
Thankyü was designed to help employees and employers following government legislation that came into force last October. The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, requires employers to all share tips, gratuities, and service charges fairly and transparently with their employees. The government claim it will see an extra £200 million back in the pocket of workers.
Before the act, tips were often collected centrally when the bill arrived and then distributed up to 60 days later by the employer, sometimes with very little transparency or a fair representation of the service provided, says thankyü.
The thankyü app allows tips to be collected by hospitality and service staff and keep them in their own personal wallet and, if they wish, share them with fellow employees, family or friends or transfer them to their own bank account.
The app is free to download, with two options for staff: a pay-as-you-go system where staff pay five per cent of each tip transaction, and an all-inclusive version where for the equivalent cost of a tip per month, staff get cashback on their platform charges, a free TipTap band and deals at thousands of participating UK restaurants.
Gerard Toplass, founder, thankyü, says: "Rising National Insurance and reduced business rates relief will make it harder for businesses and an increasingly cashless society means there’s less money for physical tips that go straight to staff, which can account for 40% of their income.
“But surveys show over 80% of customers want to tip using their cards or integrated wallets but want to make sure the person serving them actually gets the tip. That’s why we created thankyü. We want to ensure staff have the ability to keep up to 100% of their tips so they can earn more money and get paid faster."