What a Restaurant Manager payslip looks like
A typical UK restaurant manager payslip is paid monthly and shows a basic pay line at the top. A restaurant manager runs front-of-house operations, staffing, service and the profit and loss of a single site. The line items below depend on grade, shift pattern and contractual additions, but the structure usually mirrors HMRC's recommended payslip layout: a payments block, a deductions block, a year-to-date column, and a net pay summary.
Common employers in this occupation include restaurant groups, hotels, independent restaurants. Each employer runs payroll slightly differently, but the underlying PAYE computation against tax code 1257L and Class 1 National Insurance is identical across the UK (excluding Scotland for income tax). The biggest variability between two restaurant manager payslips at the same gross will be in the additions block: Salaried PAYE plus revenue or labour-cost bonuses taxed in the month paid. The manager often administers the tronc, but their own share is still PAYE-taxable and should sit on a separate line; company phone, vehicle or accommodation can adjust the tax code.
Year-to-date columns are critical to verify on this role because the additions and salary sacrifice items change month to month. If your YTD gross divided by months elapsed in the tax year does not match your expected annual run-rate, that is the single best signal that something is mis-coded.
Applies to some of this work
Tips, gratuities, service charges and troncs and restaurant manager pay
Being in the tronc and running it are two different problems for you, and the second is the expensive one. If you both take a share and decide the split while acting for the owner, HMRC treats the tips as allocated by the employer, National Insurance becomes due on every payment the tronc makes, and the liability is the company's. There is a further trap in the Code: it says staff agreement to a distribution method has to be genuine and not coerced by managers, so a scheme you talked the team into is weaker evidence of fairness than one they chose.
- Tipping Act main duties in force
- 1 October 2024
- Statutory Code of Practice in force
- 1 October 2024
Educational only. Whether this reaches your own pay turns on your contract and how you are engaged, and tribunal and claim time limits are short. Check the limit that applies to you before relying on a date.
Tips, gratuities, service charges and troncs: the rates, the payslip lines, what goes wrong and the 16 primary sources. Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, Part 2B of the Employment Rights Act 1996, in force 1 October 2024.
Applies to this work
Deductions from wages, and the retail 10% cap and restaurant manager pay
The part of these sections that reaches a floor manager is the demand route rather than the deduction route. Where the employer asks you to hand money over instead of taking it off your pay, section 20(1) says it is not treated as receiving that payment lawfully unless it has first notified you in writing of your total liability for the shortage and then made a written demand, and section 20(2) requires that demand to be made on one of your pay days. Section 21(1) then holds what you can be required to pay to the same tenth, less anything already deducted from the same packet.
- Cap on a retail shortage deduction
- One tenth of gross pay
- The sections that name the occupation
- Sections 17 to 22
Educational only. Whether this reaches your own pay turns on your contract and how you are engaged, and tribunal and claim time limits are short. Check the limit that applies to you before relying on a date.
Deductions from wages, and the retail 10% cap: the rates, the payslip lines, what goes wrong and the 28 primary sources. Employment Rights Act 1996, Part II, sections 13 to 27, with sections 17 to 22 for workers in retail employment, in force 22 August 1996, with the two year backstop from 1 July 2015 and the hours line on the payslip from 6 April 2019.
Restaurant Manager salary bands (UK 2024)
ONS ASHE 2024 full-time gross pay. Net figures use 2026/27 PAYE bands and assume 5% of qualifying earnings (£6,240–£50,270) under a net-pay arrangement — before income tax, but not before National Insurance.
| Band | Gross / year | Net / year | Net / month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25th percentile | £29,000 | £23,489 | £1,957 |
| Median | £34,000 | £26,889 | £2,241 |
| 75th percentile | £42,000 | £32,329 | £2,694 |
Common deductions for a Restaurant Manager
- PAYE income tax.Calculated against tax code 1257L. Cumulative coding means refunds can appear if you start mid-year.
- National Insurance (Class 1).8% between £12,570 and £50,270 of annual earnings, then 2% above. Period-by-period method is standard.
- Pension.Auto-enrolment minimum 5% employee on qualifying earnings (£6,240 - £50,270), unless your employer runs a more generous scheme such as the NHS, Teachers Pension or Civil Service alpha.
- Salary sacrifice patterns.Common in this occupation: cycle-to-work, electric-car salary sacrifice, additional pension contributions, and where applicable workplace nursery vouchers (still tax-efficient via pre-existing schemes).
- Union or professional body.Tax-deductible for HMRC-listed bodies. Restaurant Managers commonly hold subscriptions covered by section 344 ITEPA 2003 (List 3).
Restaurant Manager payslip FAQ
What is the average Restaurant Manager salary in the UK in 2024?
According to ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2024 for SOC code 1222, the median full-time gross annual salary for a Restaurant Manager in the UK is approximately £34,000. The 25th percentile sits at £29,000 and the 75th at £42,000.
What is take-home pay on a median Restaurant Manager salary?
On £34,000 gross with the standard 1257L tax code and 5% of qualifying earnings into a net-pay pension, monthly take-home is approximately £2,241 after PAYE income tax, Class 1 employee National Insurance and auto-enrolment pension. Actual figures vary if you have student loan, salary sacrifice or a non-cumulative tax code.
What is unusual about a Restaurant Manager payslip?
Salaried PAYE plus revenue or labour-cost bonuses taxed in the month paid. The manager often administers the tronc, but their own share is still PAYE-taxable and should sit on a separate line; company phone, vehicle or accommodation can adjust the tax code.
Which tax code should a Restaurant Manager typically be on?
Most people in this role on standard PAYE will see 1257L. Check the prefix and suffix carefully: a K-prefix means deductions exceed your allowance (often after a bonus or P11D benefit), 0T means you have no allowance left at this employer, and BR means basic rate on the whole job (common in second jobs).
Salary estimates: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2024, full-time gross annual pay by SOC 2020 occupation. Figures rounded to nearest £100.