Firms cannot charge recruits training costs that undermine national minimum wage, Court of Appeal rules

A COMPANY’S bid to clawback some £8,000 in training costs from a former employee was thrown out by the Court of Appeal this month because it undermined the national minimum wage. Joseph Watts had to sign a contract that meant he took £8,108 debt for supposed training costs when he joined software development company Geeks Ltd in March 2019. He was employed as a trainee quality assurance engineer on a salary of £18,000 and the costs could either be paid off monetarily or through “work…