Who should pay for a uniform with a company logo?

BennyTheSnitch

My wife has been employed by the same company in a nursery for the last 2 years. They have always stipulated that black trousers and a smart top/blouse be worn. However, they have now decided that all staff should wear a simple polo shirt with the company logo embroidered into it. These will be bought by the employer specifically for each employee and the employer has stated that they must each pay for their own.

Morally, I find this unfair. However, legally, can they enforce this?

MrSnuggles

I think it's legal. Next Plc makes their employees all buy and wear their own brand clothes as uniform and they've gotten away with it for so many years. The clothes must be in season, making it worse...

BennyTheSnitch

MrSnuggles wrote: »

I think it's legal. Next Plc makes their employees all buy and wear their own brand clothes as uniform and they've gotten away with it for so many years. The clothes must be in season, making it worse...

Thanks MrSnuggles. I think that is slightly different though: buying in Next gives the employee a little choice as to what they wear. My missus has no choice whatsoever. Also, the Next clothes could be worn outside work for every day use but the nursery uniform has a company logo on it meaning it can only be worn there.

neil9313

MrSnuggles wrote: »

I think it's legal. Next Plc makes their employees all buy and wear their own brand clothes as uniform and they've gotten away with it for so many years. The clothes must be in season, making it worse...

Tell the whole story, they get this by paying 25% only for their clothes plus they can choose more or less what they wear from the season.

liney

PPE must be provided free of charge, but uniform is down to individual T's and C's.

Because the uniform is logo'd, and therefore only suitable for work, she can contact the HMRC for an additional tax allowance for washing it: I think it is £60 per year atm. Have a search on their website.

mountainofdebt

Well there's two ways of looking at this

1) Mean employer forcing employees to buy uniform - at what say £15 max per top

or

2) Mean employer forcing employees to buy uniform - at what say £15 max per top, so your wife gets to keep all her casual clothes for when she wants to wear them and on top she'll be able to claim the additional tax allowance of £60 per annum for washing them at home.

Personally I know which one I would rather.

easy

BennyTheSnitch wrote: »

My wife has been employed by the same company in a nursery for the last 2 years. They have always stipulated that black trousers and a smart top/blouse be worn. However, they have now decided that all staff should wear a simple polo shirt with the company logo embroidered into it. These will be bought by the employer specifically for each employee and the employer has stated that they must each pay for their own.

Morally, I find this unfair. However, legally, can they enforce this?

You know, an employer can't unilaterally change the contract of an employee, and suddenly making a uniform compulsory (whether paid for or not) is a change in contract. So TECHNICALLY they couldn't enforce it.

HOWEVER, if you like the job/need the job/don't want to make an enemy of the boss, pointing that out might be a bad move.

Is your wife in a union? If so, a word with the union rep might be an idea. Assuming not, then if ALL the staff were against this idea, and held a meeting with the owners - as civilised as possible, no yelling or accusations - then perhaps some compromise would be possible.

I wonder, would it be possible to negotiate with management that the payment for the polo-shirts could be deducted in small installments from wages ??

I have to say that if I expected my staff to wear a logo'ed item, I would expect to provide it (and if I expected someone to wear a shirt every day to work, I would probably provide 3, to allow for washing). BUT, I would expect staff to take reasonable care of it, and staff to pay for replacing them if they were damaged by poor washing or worn to do the decorating or some such.

vax2002

ask for a full invoice the receipt for the uniform , request a tax return and fill it in and get a tax refund for the full cost, also you can claim for washing a company uniform at home, around £65 I think off your tax code.

Hmm71

Hmmmm, my daughter's school insists that all children wear a uniform with the school logo on, on the polo top and the cardigan/jumper. You can only get these from a couple of suppliers in the area so they cost more than just getting stuff from BHS or ASDA. I wonder if I could claim a tax allowance for washing her "work-wear"?

System

Hmm71 wrote: »

I wonder if I could claim a tax allowance for washing her "work-wear"?

No for 2 reasons.

1. School uniform is not work wear.
2. Only your daughter would have been able to claim if 1 didn't apply but she would need a taxable income to claim against..

DVardysShadow

liney wrote: »

PPE must be provided free of charge, but uniform is down to individual T's and C's.

Because the uniform is logo'd, and therefore only suitable for work, she can contact the HMRC for an additional tax allowance for washing it: I think it is £60 per year atm. Have a search on their website.

The allowance for washing the uniform is £60 as a default, I believe - if it can be proven that it costs more, then more can be set against taxable income. Similarly, if staff must buy their own uniforms which are not suitable for use outside work, I would expect this to be allowed against taxable income. But it does need checking with HMRC.

Note that if the employee is taxed at 20% and spends £100, the tax allowance will rise by £100 but the tax paid will be reduced by £20.