Can my employer take money out of my wages?

The till is short. A customer has left without paying. Your next payslip is £40 lighter. Your employer cannot make you cover a loss just because a manager says so. Ask for the legal basis in writing, keep the payslip and check what the deduction does to your hourly pay. A charge authorised by your contract can still break minimum-wage law.

What to do today

Get the evidence somewhere you control before arguing about the money.

1. Save the payslip and the paperwork. Keep your hours, rota, contract, relevant handbook page and messages about the charge. Store copies on a personal device or account, away from the work phone.
2. Ask payroll to explain and repay. You can write: “Please explain the £[amount] deducted on [date]. Please identify the law, contract term or written consent authorising it, and when that term was provided. Please repay any unauthorised deduction. This message does not give consent to further deductions.” Keep the reply.
3. Do not sign under pressure. New consent or a contract change cannot authorise a deduction for an earlier shortage or breakage. Ask your union or an adviser to check any repayment agreement before signing it.
4. Check minimum-wage pay, not take-home pay. Start with gross pay for the pay period. Subtract charges that count against the minimum wage, such as a required uniform, then divide by the hours that must be paid. Do not subtract tax or National Insurance. If you are underpaid, use the HMRC complaint form. Request confidentiality on the form.
5. Protect the tribunal deadline. Raise a grievance, but do not wait for its outcome before notifying Acas for early conciliation. A grievance does not stop the clock. In Northern Ireland, use the Labour Relations Agency instead. Get advice before starting a minimum-wage tribunal claim if HMRC is investigating.

If you have a union rep, send them the payslip and dates. Usdaw represents shop workers; Unite and GMB organise in hospitality, warehouses, food production and logistics; UNISON represents care and NHS support staff; IWGB organises delivery riders and other precarious workers. If you are joining a union now, ask what help it offers with an existing dispute. Do not assume immediate legal cover. Acas, Citizens Advice, law centres and the Work Rights Centre are other advice routes.

Two tests, not one

“It’s in the contract” does not end the argument. First, the deduction needs authority under the wages rules. Then check whether it reduces pay below the minimum wage. Uniform charges and training clawbacks can pass the first test and fail the second.

In England, Wales and Scotland, Part II of the Employment Rights Act 1996 protects wages. Section 13 allows deductions required or authorised by law, deductions authorised by a relevant contract term, and deductions you previously agreed to in writing. The employer must have given you a copy of the written term, or notified you of its existence and effect in writing, before deducting. An oral contract can contain the term, but an oral explanation alone is not enough.

Wages include ordinary pay, holiday pay, bonuses, commission and statutory payments such as sick pay. Expense reimbursements, pension payments and redundancy payments are not wages for this particular claim. A dispute over those payments may need a different legal route.

Paying less than you are properly owed on pay day can itself be a deduction. There is a statutory exception for errors affecting the calculation of gross wages, so a disputed calculation needs checking rather than automatically treating it as an authorised charge. Section 14 also makes exceptions for genuine overpayments of wages or expenses, industrial action, statutory disciplinary proceedings and certain payments to public authorities or third parties. An ordinary disciplinary meeting is not a statutory power to fine you.

Tax, National Insurance, student loan repayments and court-ordered deductions have their own legal authority. Taking cash from you instead of docking wages is not a general escape route. Section 15 restricts payments to your employer in much the same way, with exceptions under section 16.

The second test is the National Minimum Wage. Most deductions for the employer’s benefit and payments for job-related costs reduce minimum-wage pay, even if you consented. From 1 April 2026, the hourly rates are £12.71 for workers aged 21 and over, £10.85 for ages 18 to 20, and £8.00 for ages 16 to 17. The £8.00 apprentice rate applies to apprentices under 19, or those aged 19 and over in their first year. Older apprentices who have completed that year get their age rate. Employer-provided accommodation has separate offset rules, with an offset of £11.10 a day. Use the applicable rate and pay reference period for your calculation, rather than take-home pay.

What they can take, and what they cannot

The minimum-wage column tells you whether the charge reduces the pay used in that calculation. A charge can reduce that pay without causing a breach if you still receive at least the required rate.

Consent to a uniform charge does not give up your right to the minimum wage.

Till shortages and the 10% cap

The 10% cap is for cash shortages and stock deficiencies in retail employment. That includes selling or supplying goods or services directly to the public, and collecting payment for those transactions. Shop assistants, bar staff, restaurant staff and hairdressers can be covered. A warehouse picker who never handles retail transactions is not covered merely because the warehouse belongs to a retailer.

The employer still needs authority to deduct. If it has that authority, section 18 limits the combined shortage deductions on a pay day to one-tenth of gross wages payable that day. Gross means before tax and National Insurance. The first deduction for a shortage must be within 12 months of when the employer discovered it, or should reasonably have discovered it. Later instalments can follow after that window if the series began in time.

Hiding the shortfall in a lower wage figure does not avoid the cap. Section 19 treats wages reduced by reference to shortages as deductions. If the employer demands a separate payment, section 20 requires written notice of your total liability and a written demand on a pay day. The first demand must be within the 12-month window. Under section 21, demands and shortage deductions share that day’s 10% allowance. They cannot take 10% through payroll and demand another 10% in cash.

A customer leaving a restaurant without paying does not automatically make the waiter liable. The employer must identify the authority for any deduction. If it exists, the retail cap and minimum-wage rules still matter. Serving a table is not consent to insure the restaurant’s takings.

Uniforms, breakages and training clawbacks

A care-home tunic, black trousers required by a dress code, kitchen knives or a kit deposit can be an authorised deduction if the writing is in place. They still reduce minimum-wage pay. HMRC’s uniform guidance also covers required clothing you buy yourself. PPE the employer must provide by law is different. It must be free. Calling the charge a deposit does not make required safety equipment your expense.

For a smashed plate or a delivery van’s insurance excess, ask what the contract actually authorises. A manager’s accusation is not enough. There is a minimum-wage exception for deductions for your conduct where you are contractually liable. HMRC’s conduct guidance covers this distinction. Do not assume a general damage charge qualifies. Whether the clause and the incident fit needs checking. Outside retail employment, there is no general 10% cap to fall back on.

Training clawbacks can turn leaving a job into a bill you cannot afford. The employer needs prior authority to deduct and must show that the repayment obligation applies. A bill presented on resignation is not, by itself, authority. Under Acas guidance, a charge for mandatory training must not take pay below the minimum wage. Genuinely voluntary training can be different if you agreed in writing beforehand to repay its cost. A signed clause is a reason to get the terms checked, not proof that every amount demanded is owed. Apprentices also have wages protection.

Overpayments, tips, strikes and the last payslip

They say you were overpaid

A genuine overpayment of wages or expenses can be recovered without prior written consent. Ask payroll to identify the pay period, the error and the calculation. The word “correction” on a payslip proves nothing. If you agree that the money was overpaid but cannot afford recovery in one go, ask for instalments and involve your union or adviser. Genuine overpayment recovery does not reduce minimum-wage pay, so that floor will not necessarily protect the money left in your account.

Tips

In Great Britain, since 1 October 2024, deductions from qualifying tips, gratuities and service charges allocated under the tipping legislation are unlawful unless required or authorised by statute. Section 13(8) removes the contract and consent routes. Tax and National Insurance can still come off where due. Card fees, tronc administration fees and a house percentage cannot be deducted from your allocation. Tips do not count towards the minimum wage.

Strike days

Section 14 allows deductions on account of taking part in a strike or other industrial action without the usual section 13 authority. If you dispute the amount withheld, get your union to check it against your contract and the action taken. The industrial-action exception is not a general licence to charge you for an unrelated shortage. See our guides to strike action and trade disputes.

Final pay

Final pay is where the retail protection weakens. Section 22 removes the 10% cap from the final instalment of wages. That means pay for the last employment period, excluding wages relating to earlier periods, or a later payment in lieu of notice. The remaining shortage balance can therefore come off in one deduction.

The employer still needs authority under section 13. The first deduction must still be within the 12-month recovery window, and a charge that reduces minimum-wage pay cannot escape that test simply because you left. Check holiday pay and final-pay entitlements too. Leaving does not cancel wages already earned.

When the cut takes you under the minimum wage

For minimum-wage underpayment, use the pay and work rights complaint form. HMRC enforces the minimum wage on behalf of the Fair Work Agency, which began operating on 7 April 2026. You can complain after leaving the job. If you do not want HMRC to identify you to the employer, say so on the form. Do not treat that as a guarantee the employer cannot work out who complained, especially in a small workplace.

Required uniforms, work equipment, PPE charges, meals, mandatory training and salary sacrifice can reduce minimum-wage pay. Exceptions include genuine overpayment recovery, loan or wage-advance repayments, tax and National Insurance, certain contractual conduct liabilities and agreed voluntary-training repayments. Ordinary pension deductions paid to a third party differ from salary sacrifice, which reduces cash pay. See the Acas list and minimum-wage regulations. Accommodation has its own rules. Get advice if payroll is relying on an exception.

A notice of underpayment can require arrears and a financial penalty of up to 200% of arrears, capped at £20,000 per worker. The penalty is halved only if the employer complies with all the notice’s terms within 14 days of service. The money owed to you is not halved. Arrears use a formula based on the current rate for the age band that applied when you were underpaid, with protection against receiving less than the original shortfall. Employers can also be named publicly.

The Fair Work Agency’s current enforcement remit includes the minimum wage, employment-agency standards, gangmaster licensing and penalties for unpaid tribunal awards. It does not generally replace the tribunal route for ordinary unlawful deductions. A till charge can breach the wages rules even if you remain above the minimum wage.

Who can use these rules

These protections cover employees and other people with worker status, including many casual, zero-hours and agency staff. There is no qualifying service period for an unlawful-deduction claim. A zero-hours contract does not let an employer dock earned pay without authority.

A promise to do the work personally matters, but it is not the whole status test. Someone running their own business for a client or customer may be genuinely self-employed. If an employer uses a “contractor” label to deny wages protection, get the actual working arrangement checked.

For agency staff, the claim is usually against the agency or umbrella company responsible for paying the wages, not simply the workplace supervisor who announced the charge. Check who contracted with you and who owes the pay. Planned umbrella-company regulation is not a reason to wait to use existing rights.

The Part II rules are the same in England, Wales and Scotland. Scottish civil claims use the sheriff court rather than the county court. Civil limitation rules also differ, so do not assume an English court deadline applies in Scotland.

How to claim, and the date that matters

In Great Britain, the normal deadline depends on the deduction date. Under section 23 and the October 2026 transitional rules, deductions on or after 1 October 2026 have a six-month limit, normally six months minus a day. Earlier deductions retain the three-month limit. For a series, the relevant date is the last deduction in that series. The reform does not automatically revive an expired claim.

These are deadlines to bring the claim before any conciliation adjustment, not dates to begin thinking about it. For a wholly unpaid wage, record the date payment was due. For a payment demanded by the employer, the date it received the payment matters. Ask an adviser to calculate the deadline if the dates or payment arrangements are disputed.

A later deduction does not automatically rescue an earlier one. The tribunal decides whether the deductions form a series. In Great Britain, section 23 also has a two-year backstop for most wage deductions, measured back from the date you present the claim. Certain statutory payments are excepted. The October extension changes the time to bring a claim, not that recovery backstop.

1. Notify Acas before your deadline. Give the correct employer details for early conciliation. If you settle, make sure the agreement states what will be paid and when.
2. Keep the conciliation certificate. If settlement fails, use it to bring the tribunal claim. Check the adjusted deadline with Acas or your adviser. Our deadline calculator and time-limits guide can help, but disputed dates need individual advice.
3. Set out the deductions. List each pay date, the wages owed, what was paid and the amount missing. Attach your explanation of why the employer lacked authority, exceeded the retail cap or underpaid the minimum wage. Our tribunal guide explains the ET1 claim form.

If the tribunal upholds the complaint, section 24 requires repayment of the unauthorised amount and can allow compensation for attributable financial loss. A late claim is possible only under the statutory extension test, including that it was not reasonably practicable to claim in time. Do not rely on an ongoing grievance to satisfy it.

A civil contract claim may be another route, with different deadlines and potential fees and costs. Get advice before choosing it or abandoning a tribunal claim. An employer’s right to seek a debt through the courts and its right to deduct that debt from wages are different questions.

Questions people ask

Can my employer dock pay for a till shortage?

A short till is not enough. It needs legal authority, normally a contract term supplied in writing before the deduction or prior written consent. New consent cannot cover an earlier shortage. If retail rules apply, the combined shortage deductions are capped at 10% of gross pay per pay day, except final pay, and recovery must start within 12 months of discovery. Check minimum-wage pay separately.

Can they take money for a breakage or damage to a van?

Only with authority to deduct. Ask for the clause and the calculation rather than accepting the manager’s description of the incident. A specified contractual liability for your conduct can be excepted from minimum-wage deductions rules, but a general damage charge does not automatically qualify. The retail 10% cap is not a general limit on damage deductions in every job.

Can they charge me for uniform or PPE?

A required uniform can be an authorised deduction, but still reduces minimum-wage pay. The same applies to required dress-code purchases, including clothing bought elsewhere. PPE the employer is legally required to provide must be free. A consent form does not change that duty.

Can they take training costs when you resign?

They need authority to deduct and a repayment obligation that applies. Mandatory training charges cannot lawfully take you below the minimum wage. Agreed repayments for genuinely voluntary training can be different. Get the agreement checked before accepting that the whole bill is owed or signing a payment plan.

Does leaving let them take the whole shortage from final pay?

The retail 10% cap does not restrict a deduction from the final instalment of wages, which can include a later payment in lieu of notice. It does not erase the need for authority, the recovery window or the minimum-wage check. Earlier unpaid wages do not become part of the final instalment simply because the employer pays them late.

How long do you have to challenge an unlawful deduction?

In Great Britain, the normal limit is six months minus a day for a deduction on or after 1 October 2026, and three months minus a day for an earlier deduction. Northern Ireland retains three months minus a day. A series normally runs from the last deduction. Early conciliation can adjust the deadline, but a grievance cannot. Notify Acas, or the Labour Relations Agency in Northern Ireland, promptly.

Sources

1. Employment Rights Act 1996, section 13, deductions and qualifying tips; section 14, exceptions; section 15, payments to employers, legislation.gov.uk
2. Employment Rights Act 1996, sections 17 to 21, retail shortages, caps and recovery; section 22, final instalments, legislation.gov.uk
3. Employment Rights Act 1996, section 23, claim limits and the two-year backstop; section 24, remedies, legislation.gov.uk
4. Employment Rights Act 2025, section 152 and Schedule 12; S.I. 2026/954, explanatory note and transitional Schedule, legislation.gov.uk
5. Deductions from pay and wages, Acas. Its three-month deadline wording does not reflect the new GB limit for deductions on or after 1 October 2026.
6. National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015, regulation 12 and regulation 13, legislation.gov.uk
7. Uniforms and dress codes and deductions for conduct, HMRC National Minimum Wage Manual
8. Minimum wage rates for 2026 and National Minimum Wage rates, GOV.UK
9. Enforcing the minimum wage, arrears formula, penalties and choice of recovery route; Complain about pay and work rights, confidentiality requests and tribunal restriction, GOV.UK
10. Fair Work Agency enforcement statement, current remit and tribunal-award penalty scheme, GOV.UK
11. Plan to Make Work Pay timeline update, Department for Business and Trade
12. Pay deductions, nidirect; Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, Part IV, articles 45 to 59, including article 55’s three-month limit, legislation.gov.uk
13. Minimum-wage naming round, 17 October 2025, Department for Business and Trade; round 22 educational bulletin, source of the 491 employers, 190 deductions cases, 39%, about £6 million and about 42,000 workers
14. Government considering new powers to tackle non-payment of tribunal awards, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, 2013 research, source of the historical 49% full-payment and 16% partial-payment findings