Small restaurants might be forced to hand over all their tips to staff if one union gets its way.

Many restaurants hold back a proportion of tips given to workers without the knowledge of customers, the BBC reports.

Because of this the union Unite wants changes in legislation to stop firms using tips to top up staff to the minimum wage.

Speaking to the BBC, Dave Turnbull of the union said: "We would like to see an obligation on employers to be fair and transparent about the way they distribute tips."

He added that the fact that many tips do not go to workers "will be news" to the diners who leave them in the first place.

Some restaurants take up to 60 per cent of tips, the BBC report concludes.

Meanwhile, the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies has reported that restaurants could be one of the types of business most at risk from the impact of the credit crunch

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