Deductions from salary on leaving company

[andy113]

I recently left my job. I was owed a weeks holiday pay, but also was required under the terms of my contract to repay £800 to my employer for training I had been provided with.

The holiday pay was added to my gross pay, and then tax and NI calculated on this figure. The £800 deduction was then taken from my pay after tax and NI.

This doesn't seem right to me - as I've paid tax based on earning approximately £500 extra (due to the holiday pay), however in reality I actually earnt less than in usual months.

It is probably correct that the deduction was taken from my net pay rather than gross, but wanted to get some opinions!

[section 44]

It’s a contractual question depending on exactly how your contract of employment works but its probably right. The only reason why employer's withhold is to save the hassle of trying to get employees to actually handover the cash for monies due to them but if you had have handed it over then it clearly would have been out of your net pay.

You earned the money and then separately you have an obligation to pay an equal sum to your employer. To be out of gross pay you would need to be able to demonstrate that the money had never been earned.