Mr Kibble in person. For the v Mr Willey, Solicitor. — 2024

The claimant, an IT Analyst, brought a claim for unauthorised deduction from wages after the respondent deducted £2,000 from his December 2023 pay to recover costs of a VMWare training course he had attended between 30 October and 9 November 2023. The tribunal found that the training costs recovery agreement was presented to the claimant only after the course had already begun, and that the training addressed a recognised skills deficiency identified in the claimant's annual appraisal. The judge found the training was necessary for the claimant to perform his role rather than being for his personal benefit.

Employment Judge Clark held that the deduction was contractually authorised under clause 24.1 of the claimant's contract of employment, and rejected the arguments that the agreement was vitiated by coercion or that the timing of the agreement (after the training began) rendered it unlawful. However, applying regulation 13(1)(a) of the National Minimum Wage Regulations and considering the EAT decision in Ant Marketing, the judge concluded the training expenditure was 'in connection with the employment' such that the deduction could not be counted towards NMW pay in the December 2023 pay reference period.

The practical effect was that the respondent was entitled to deduct part of the £2,000 but could not lawfully reduce the claimant's net pay below £1,476.83 (the NMW level for that period). As the claimant was paid only £538.72, the unlawful element of the deduction was £938.11, which the respondent was ordered to pay. The claim therefore succeeded in part.