Mr A Scott v Bryn Thomas Cranes Limited — 2023

Mr A Scott brought a complaint of unlawful deduction from wages after £668.40 was taken from his final pay following the end of his employment with Bryn Thomas Cranes Limited. He said the money was deducted for an NVQ course he had not attended and sought compensation for the inconvenience of having to borrow money, although no quantified remedy was claimed in the ET1. The respondent accepted that a deduction had been made, but said it was authorised by the employment contract and reflected training costs incurred for the claimant.

Employment Judge R Brace found that the claimant had signed a contract on 8 August 2022 containing clause 17, which required repayment of training costs in specified circumstances and allowed those costs to be deducted from salary or other remuneration due. The tribunal accepted the respondent's evidence that the training comprised a week-long lift supervisor course and a separate NVQ element, that the claimant completed the first part but resigned before the NVQ assessment, and that the deduction related to the NVQ costs element.

The tribunal concluded that the deduction was permitted by the contractual training-cost clause and fell within the statutory framework in s.13 ERA 1996. It also found that the respondent had in fact incurred the relevant costs and later received a credit note for the cancelled NVQ assessment. Although the tribunal calculated the net cost as £686.40 rather than £668.40, it treated that discrepancy as inconsequential and dismissed the complaint as not well-founded.