Claimant v Waterton Academy Trust — 2021

Mr John Charles was employed as a caretaker and occupied the school bungalow as a condition of employment. After his employment transferred to Waterton Academy Trust in July 2018 and ended by agreement on ill-health retirement on 13 March 2020, the respondent deducted £6,900 from his final pay for alleged repair costs at the property. The tribunal found that the service occupancy agreement was a separate agreement and was not incorporated into the contract of employment, so clause 5.4 did not authorise the deduction as a term of the employment contract.

The tribunal also rejected the respondent's reliance on an 18 February 2020 email from the claimant's union representative as written agreement to the deduction. It held that the email was conditional and equivocal, and that a later email of 28 February 2020 showed the claimant disputed the categories of repair costs being charged. In any event, the tribunal found that the items in the Redbrick quotation were not shown to be damage beyond fair wear and tear, or were not recoverable under clause 5.4. It found insufficient evidence that the claimant had damaged the external doors, held that redecoration and deep cleaning were not recoverable on the facts found, and found that the garden works were not covered by the recovery clause.

On quantum, the tribunal accepted the claimant's updated figures for basic pay, notice pay, holiday pay and shift allowance, and found that the amount due before deduction was £9,849.73, less the £475.82 actually paid, leaving £9,373.80 for unlawful deductions from wages. It made no further award for pension loss. Separately, the tribunal held that the respondent had failed to provide a written statement of the change of employer following the July 2018 TUPE transfer, but awarded only the minimum two weeks' pay because it was not just and equitable to award four weeks' pay. That resulted in an additional award of £692.02.