Ms M Barrett v 4 Recruitment Services Limited and 1 other — 2024

The claimant, Ms M Barrett, brought a claim of unauthorised deductions from wages arising from a six-month assignment as a debt recovery officer with Derby City Council. She had been introduced to the assignment by the first respondent, a recruitment agency, and was employed by the second respondent, an umbrella company, which handled her payroll. She contended that her hourly rate should have been £13.00 and that deductions made for the apprenticeship levy, employer's National Insurance contributions and a company margin were unauthorised, and that her holiday pay was wrongly calculated on a reduced rate of £9.50 per hour.

Employment Judge Brewer found that the £13.00 per hour figure was the assignment rate paid by the first respondent to the second respondent, not the claimant's contractual hourly rate of pay. The welcome letter, key information summary and contractual documentation provided to the claimant on 28 November 2022 made clear that the assignment rate included employment costs (employer's National Insurance, apprenticeship levy, pension contributions and the company margin) which the second respondent would retain before calculating the claimant's basic pay. The claimant's actual hourly rate was £9.50, and holiday pay was calculated as a percentage of that rate.

The tribunal noted that the claimant had been given an illustration on 25 November 2022 indicating net earnings of around £363.00 per week and had a further opportunity to consider the documentation before signing the employment contract. The only criticism of the second respondent was that the actual hourly rate was not expressly stated in the employment contract, although it could be worked out from the key information summary. The tribunal concluded there had been no unauthorised deductions from wages and the claim was dismissed.