• Over a fifth of consumers never pay the service charge added to the bill.
• Around a third of consumers in the South West, East Midlands and Yorkshire never pay hospitality service charges.
• London, Northern Ireland and Wales are more generous as around a third of consumers in these regions always pay the service charge.
• Almost half of consumers want to be able to tip at their own discretion.

Restaurants and bars adding a service charge to bills is a common practice when eating and drinking out, but over a fifth of consumers never pay this optional charge, RSM UK’s latest Consumer Outlook reveals.

RSM UK’s survey of 2,000 consumers found 22% of consumers never pay the optional service charge added to the bill, and this jumps to over a third in the South West (34%), 31% in the East Midlands and 30% in Yorkshire.

Consumers in London (33%), Northern Ireland (32%) and Wales (31%) are more willing to pay for service as the top three regions that always pay this optional charge.

Almost a fifth of UK consumers (19%) are happy with the optional service charge system, but nearly half (47%) want to be able to tip at their own discretion. In addition, nearly a fifth (19%) would prefer no tipping or service charge, with staff paid well and service charge to be included in the menu price.

Saxon Moseley, partner and head of leisure and hospitality at RSM UK, said: ‘Tipping can be a contentious subject but it’s interesting to see the regional disparity between whether or not people want to pay the service charge included in the bill.

‘Not paying the service charge may seem at odds with the UK’s reputation as being polite and unwilling to cause a fuss, so it could be that ongoing cost of living pressures are impacting behaviour. Cutting back on the service charge to make drinking or dining out more affordable could be the compromise that squeezed households are taking.

‘If this trend continues, hospitality staff that are set to take home more cash once the new tipping act comes into play on 1 October, may find their uplift smaller than expected as some consumers withhold tips and service charge for exceptional service.’