tips-payment-timing

---
name: tips-payment-timing
description: Calculates the statutory deadline for paying out every tip a venue received and flags which ones have already missed it, because the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 fixes the deadline at the end of the month following the month the customer paid, not whenever payroll happens to run next. It works from the actual date each tip was paid by the customer, not the date it was logged or the date the rota closed, because those dates can be weeks apart and only the first one starts the clock. Use before a payroll run touches tips, when a worker asks where last month's tips are, or to check a backlog before it becomes a tribunal claim.
---

# The tip payment deadline, calculated, not guessed

You give this the date each qualifying tip was paid by the customer and the date it was actually paid out to workers. You get back the statutory deadline for each one, a clear pass or fail against it, and the size of any backlog in days.

## What it does

1. **Fixes the deadline exactly as the Act states it, with no rounding in the employer's favour.** Section 27G of the Employment Rights Act 1996, as inserted by the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, and the statutory Code's paragraph 33 both set the deadline as the end of the month following the month in which the tip was paid by the customer. The Code's own worked example fixes the arithmetic: a tip paid on 23 June must be distributed by 31 July. The skill applies the same calendar logic to every tip date supplied, rather than a blanket "30 days" rule that gives a different answer depending on the month.
2. **Starts the clock on the customer's payment date, not the business's processing date.** Acas's guidance states tips must be paid "no later than the end of the month after the month the tips were received," and nothing in the Act or Code allows the clock to start later because a card settlement, a till reconciliation or a tronc meeting happened after the fact.
3. **Treats every tip in a period the same way, not just the ones a worker has asked about.** Section 27G applies to the whole qualifying amount for a period; the skill checks every tip date supplied against its own deadline rather than sampling a few and assuming the rest are fine.
4. **Separates agency worker timing from direct staff.** Where a tip is paid to an agency worker through the agency rather than directly, the Code notes the principal pays the agency first, and the agency then has until the end of the following month to pay the worker; the skill records both legs of that chain rather than treating the agency's receipt as the end point.
5. **Reports a backlog as a count of days late, not a vague "overdue".** A deadline missed by two days and one missed by two months are both failures, but they are not the same risk, and the skill states the exact gap so an owner can see which backlog to clear first.

## Then it checks

1. Every tip has a customer payment date and a worker payout date.
2. The statutory deadline is calculated as the last day of the month following the customer payment date's month.
3. Every payout date is compared against its own deadline, individually.
4. Any payout after the deadline is reported with the exact number of days late.
5. Any agency-worker tip shows both the date the principal paid the agency and the date the agency paid the worker, each checked against its own deadline.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only. Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never move a tip's deadline later because payroll, the tronc, or the processor was slow; the deadline is fixed by the customer's payment date alone.
- Never average a backlog across workers to make the overall picture look better than the worst individual case.
- This is a working document for the owner to check against their own payroll records and for their solicitor or Acas to check where a backlog already exists. It is not legal advice.

## Built from
- Employment Rights Act 1996, Part 2B, section 27G, as inserted by the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 c.13, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/13, Royal Assent 2 May 2023, read 4 November 2026: the statutory deadline, behind step 1.
- Department for Business and Trade, "Code of Practice on Fair and Transparent Distribution of Tips", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/distributing-tips-fairly-statutory-code-of-practice/code-of-practice-on-fair-and-transparent-distribution-of-tips-html-version, published 29 July 2024, in force 1 October 2024, read 4 November 2026: paragraph 33's worked example and the agency payment chain, behind steps 1 and 4.
- Acas, "Tips and service charges: what the law says", https://www.acas.org.uk/tips-and-service-charges, read 4 November 2026: the plain-language restatement of the deadline, behind step 2.

# tips-payment-timing

## You are given
A list of qualifying tips with, for each one: the date the customer paid it, the amount, the worker or workers it was allocated to, and the date it was actually paid out. For any tip routed through an agency: the date the principal paid the agency, and the date the agency paid the worker. Today's date.

## Produce
Write into a `./tips-payment-timing-output/` folder:

1. `deadline-calendar.csv` with columns: `row_ref`, `customer_payment_date`, `amount_gbp`, `deadline_date`. `row_ref` is P0001 upward. `deadline_date` is calculated as the last calendar day of the month following the month of `customer_payment_date`, never approximated as "30 days later."
2. `payout-check.csv` with columns: `row_ref`, `deadline_date`, `actual_payout_date`, `days_late`, `verdict`. `days_late` is `actual_payout_date` minus `deadline_date` in whole days, `0` or negative if on time. `verdict` is exactly one of `on time`, `late`, `not yet paid, deadline not passed`, `not yet paid, deadline passed`.
3. `agency-chain-check.csv` with columns: `row_ref`, `principal_to_agency_date`, `agency_deadline_date`, `agency_to_worker_date`, `agency_days_late`, `verdict`. Only populated for tips routed through an agency. `agency_deadline_date` is the last day of the month following `principal_to_agency_date`'s month. `verdict` is exactly one of `on time`, `late`, `not yet paid`.
4. `backlog-summary.csv` with columns: `total_tips_checked`, `on_time_count`, `late_count`, `not_yet_paid_deadline_passed_count`, `total_late_amount_gbp`, `worst_days_late`, `worst_row_ref`.
5. `gaps.md` - a numbered list of: every row with `verdict` of `late` or `not yet paid, deadline passed`, each with its row reference and days late; every agency chain row marked `late`; any tip with no `actual_payout_date` supplied at all; any date supplied in a format Codex could not parse unambiguously.

## Rules
- Codex counts and calculates calendar deadlines. It never excuses a late payment and never treats a processing delay as moving the deadline.
- Every deadline is calculated from the customer payment date alone, using calendar month-end logic, never a fixed 30- or 31-day offset.
- Every `days_late` figure is a precise day count from supplied dates, never estimated.
- Use British English, GBP and DD Month YYYY dates in all narrative text; CSV dates use ISO YYYY-MM-DD for unambiguous parsing. No em dashes in any file you write.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own payroll records and for their solicitor or Acas to check where a backlog already exists. It is not legal advice.

## Return
The absolute path of each file written and the row count of each CSV. The totals from `backlog-summary.csv` in full. Every row marked `late` or `not yet paid, deadline passed`, with its days late. Every agency chain row marked `late`. The `gaps.md` item count.