Repaying training costs apprentice.

Hi I am an apprentice. In my contract it states
"You are required to remain in the companies employment for a period of not less than 12 months following the completion of the course. If you leave the service of the company prior to the completion of this period, do not finish the course or are dismissed for a reason other than redundancy during the lifetime of the course you agree to repay in full total cost of the course."

This is very vague, what if I am to complete another course? I assume this is referring to my NVQ course but what if I am to do a further course after. It does not state any exact name of the course, I am just wondering if anyone has any advice for if I was to leave the job.

The course my company will put me on is the HnC/HnD engineering but it doesnt state this anywhere.

I know of "52.4. apprentices are not be asked to contribute financially to the direct cost of learning or assessment (this includes where an apprentice leaves their programme early – you must not claim training or assessment costs back from ex-apprentices)"
this in the apprentice work rights regs.

Comments

  • TELLIT01
    TELLIT01 Posts: 16,374
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    It doesn't seem vague. It's stating that if you leave their employment you will have to pay back the cost of any course attending in the previous 12 months. That excludes the apprenticeship from what you quote in the final paragraph.
    'The course' is used in the contract to avoid the need to state each and every course any employee might attend.
  • Brynsam
    Brynsam Posts: 3,643
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    Jon1998 wrote: »
    Hi I am an apprentice. In my contract it states
    "You are required to remain in the companies employment for a period of not less than 12 months following the completion of the course. If you leave the service of the company prior to the completion of this period, do not finish the course or are dismissed for a reason other than redundancy during the lifetime of the course you agree to repay in full total cost of the course."

    What does your contract say immediately before this paragraph - and is there a heading?
  • BrassicWoman
    BrassicWoman Posts: 3,201
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    If it's an actual apprenticeship funded by the aprentice levy then the actual costs are zero. so it might depend on the size of the company, and it might be an outdated contract....#


    Big employer or wee employer?
    2021 GC £1365.71/ £2400
  • emsywoo123
    emsywoo123 Posts: 5,440 Forumite
    Apprentices cannot be made to pay back the cost of the apprenticeship, regardless of levy or employer contribution. Anything else, yes.
  • sangie595
    sangie595 Posts: 6,092 Forumite
    Actually, I doubt that the clause is enforceable. The law is very clear on this matter - an enforceable training agreement needs to be in writing, detailing the costs and repayment terms; and must be signed. A catch all contractual clause is not sufficient.

    That said, it is slightly dishonest to be thinking in this way. The OP hasn't even started on the proposed course, and is already looking for a way out of paying back the investment their employer puts into them if they choose to leave within a year - which is certainly not an unreasonable expectation on an employee, that they stay a year after receiving significant training investment.

    Perhaps if the OP has so little commitment to the employer at this stage, they should seriously consider whether it is honest to ask the employer to undertake the costs of training them further. After all, even if the clause is not enforceable, there are other ways that an employer can "get back" at an employee. I suspect, for example, that future employers might be very reluctant to invest in any employee whose reference states that they take the training and run! Assuming, of course, that they can get a reference at all. Employers don't have to give references, but refusal is generally taken to mean something very bad has happened.

    There is more than one way to skin a cat, and employers have a lot of leverage....
  • prowla
    prowla Posts: 13,126
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    I had a previous employer who, when I finally got them to agree to put me on a course, put a pay back in 12 months clause in front of me to sign; I declined and cancelled the course.


    They didn't trust me, and it broke a bond as far as I was concerned.



    I never forgot that, and when I left 3 years later I quoted that as one of the contributing factors.
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