How Troncmasters put money in the pockets of both the business and employees

Before joining Troncmasters, IRIS’ third-party tronc scheme service, in 2021, Almond Pubs administered their tips in-house.

These tips were handled by Hayley the HR Manager; while Haley was happy to help, they noted that it was incredibly inefficient and was not maximising the National Insurance (NI) savings that can be made with an independently managed tronc scheme.

After watching an educational IRIS webinar on salary sacrifice, Hayley spoke with Katie Linstead, the Senior Payroll Product Manager at IRIS.

They discussed issues facing the hospitality industry, including the rising costs and how a compliant Tronc scheme could help them make massive savings.

Hayley explained: “Troncmasters was a winner and anything that can save the company a bit of money and make our staff better off was worth doing.”

Choosing Troncmasters

Hayley told us: “It made sense as IRIS are our payroll providers, and Troncmasters is associated with them.”

Almond Pubs’ teams are on four-weekly pay cycles, meaning deadlines are tight.

They upload their input on a Monday, and payroll is finalised by 4pm on a Wednesday.

Hayley did consider one other provider but found their solution “clunky” and didn’t like that it would be another third-party to deal with, saying: “We didn’t want to add in another platform for everybody to be using.”

Working with Troncmasters

Almond Pubs have found the process smooth throughout, from their initial discovery call to the ongoing administration of their tronc scheme.

Now, it’s just a case of uploading the information onto the same platform as they do their payroll, and Troncmasters take it from there.

But should they have any queries, Almond Pubs has a named contact on hand to help.

Hayley commented: “It’s been really easy, and it was clearly communicated from the beginning.

“Troncmasters explained what our target go-live date would be and what we needed to do, from both parties, to make sure that it happened.

“It really was a simple process to get set up.”

Giving back to staff

Even with the Troncmasters administration’s cost, the company has actually saved a lot more in NI.

Additionally, Hayley told us that it’s a great message to send to their employees and prospective employees.

Almond Pubs has also taken the benefit a step further, using the NI savings to launch a new benefit scheme for their employees.

Hayley explained: “It is the best thing we have done in a long time.

“Also, not long before joining Troncmasters, we had launched a new till system which allowed us to add a service charge for groups of six guests or more, so that coupled with the tronc scheme means that the team are earning a lot more money.

“We’ve now added roughly £2 per hour to everybody’s wages!”