Ministers have been accused of breaking their promises to low-paid workers amid claims they have quietly dropped plans to ensure restaurant and bar staff are not being exploited.

The government has still not published any response to its 2016 consultation on plans to stop companies snatching workers’ tips, despite the survey having closed more than two years ago.

Tory ministers had pledged to act to protect staff, but a response to a freedom of information request, seen by The Independent, revealed the business department does not appear to have even started work on a response, prompting claims it has ditched the plans.

A spokesperson said the government was “still considering options”.

The latest row comes after staff at restaurant chain TGI Fridays staged a series of walkouts over what they said was the company’s unfair tips policy.

Waiting staff at the American chain were told that 40 per cent of the tips they receive via credit or debit cards would be taken from them and given to kitchen staff, instead of the chain giving the latter a pay rise.

The Unite trade union, which represents bar and restaurant workers, said this would cost some waiting staff £250 a month and organised protests outside 30 of the chain’s restaurants.

Labour MP Stephanie Peacock said government inaction meant “workers and customers alike are being ripped off by rogue bosses who are grabbing tips that were intended for staff”. Trade unions called the delays “scandalous” and suggested minsters were trying to brush the issue under the carpet.

In 2016, ministers announced plans to crack down on exploitative practices by banning or restricting employers taking tips that are given to staff, and making a voluntary code of practice for employers legally binding.

It followed The Independent’s Fair Tips, Fair Pay campaign, which revealed that a number of large restaurant chains were taking staff tips and using them to top up the wages of workers who were being paid less than the minimum wage.

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Despite many companies having responded to public pressure to change their policies, some continue to keep a cut of staff tips for themselves. Others, including Italian chain Strada, take a proportion of tips paid on card as a “handling charge”.

Some firms, including Jamie Oliver’s Italian chain, have also been found to charge waiting staff a proportion of the bills paid by the people they serve, which is then distributed to other staff.

The official consultation on clamping down on the practices closed on 27 June 2016 but the government is yet to respond to it.

Ministers do not appear to have even started work on a response. Asked whether the government had a copy of any draft response to the consultation, a Department for Business, Enterprise and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) official said: “Following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by this department.”

Pushed on why it has still not published a response to the consultation, a BEIS spokesperson said: “The government is still considering options and will respond in due course.”

Announcing the plans in 2016, Sajid Javid, then the business secretary and now the home secretary, said: “We’ve been very clear. As a one nation government we want workers who earn a tip to be able to keep it. That’s why I, like many others, was disappointed by the tipping practices of some of our well-known chains. This has to change.”

Ministers were prepared to make legislative changes to protect workers, he added.

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An earlier government call for evidence had found more than 80 per cent of people thought staff should be allowed to keep the tips they earn.

Commenting on the lack of government action, Ms Peacock, who recently introduced a Commons bill on protecting workers’ rights, said: “This month marks two years since the government closed its consultation on fair tips. The Tories promised it would lead to action, yet they now admit that they haven’t even started drafting a response.

“While ministers drag their feet, workers and customers alike are being ripped off by rogue bosses who are grabbing tips that were intended for staff.

She added: “It is appalling that staff, often in precarious employment, are going into another busy summer season without the basic protection they deserve, with workers at TGI Fridays worked to take strike action to demand their share.

“Government inaction will only fuel the suspicion that they have quitely abandoned their promises and want to let rogue bosses off the hook. Ministers should come clean, and if they’re going to take real action to stop this scandal, they need to get on with it.”

Dave Turnbull, regional officer at Unite, said: “It’s scandalous that the government appears to have not even started drafting a response yet.

“Every day that passes since its consultation on fair tips closed is another day that allows bad bosses to exploit low paid workers. It gives the likes of TGI Fridays the opportunity to interfere and manipulate the systems used to distribute tips internally to rip off workers and customers alike.