Employer making deductions... 30 October 2022 at 8:55PM edited 30 October 2022 at 8:57PM in Employment, jobseeking & training 4 replies 372 views

maxmycardagain

So where a company pays for training resulting a qualification (HGV licence) can they insist the driver stays with them a year or the driver has to repay the licence/training costs when the driver was NOT informed of the stipulation beforehand and hasnt signed to agree to the deductions at all/ever... not even told till the test was passed.

I understood only standard deductions from PAYE (tax/stamp,etc) were allowed unless agreed to...

Dazed_and_C0nfused

https://www.acas.org.uk/final-pay-when-someone-leaves-a-job/deductions-for-training-courses

B0bbyEwing

I see this kind of thing often. 

Company will inform the workforce of procedure. May even get them to sign paperwork to show they accept or are aware of it. 

Various workforce member then leave, new ones come in & company don't think to tell the new workers. 

Then comes a situation where money is deducted & so the confrontation happens. 

So unnecessary. 

Undervalued

maxmycardagain said:

So where a company pays for training resulting a qualification (HGV licence) can they insist the driver stays with them a year or the driver has to repay the licence/training costs when the driver was NOT informed of the stipulation beforehand and hasnt signed to agree to the deductions at all/ever... not even told till the test was passed.

I understood only standard deductions from PAYE (tax/stamp,etc) were allowed unless agreed to...

For an employer to be able to lawfully recover training costs there must be a specific agreement in place. Whist that can be incorporated into the contract of employment, if correctly drafted, it is normally considered good practice to have a separate agreement. Unusually, for English law, this needs to be in writing to be enforceable. Even then the amount deducted needs to be proportionate and reasonable.

All that being said, there is nothing you can do to prevent the employer making the deduction from the final wages. The employee is then left with the problem of taking action to recover the money if they feel there was no legal agreement or the amount was excessive.

maxmycardagain

Undervalued said:

All that being said, there is nothing you can do to prevent the employer making the deduction from the final wages. The employee is then left with the problem of taking action to recover the money if they feel there was no legal agreement or the amount was excessive.

In this case timing may count as they split up the year into 12 equal periods and pay 12 times BUT there are periods when payment preceeds any more working being undertaken.... so no payment is owed... its a small window but every hole is a goal