Paying your employer back for training?
Discussion
An interesting debate in our office is ongoing about the repayment of training fees should you leave the company in a specified time.
So the story is, about a quarter of the office were asked to do some specific training, it's a form of assessment training that is lacking as a skillset across our team, however when the e-mail for the dates of the training came round it had a payback schedule. £1000 if you leave within the year, £800 in year two, £500 in year three.
Given the nature of the training, in that it requires a specific license to the individual but is not transferable if you move employers and the fact I don't see the career progression I'd like in three years I declined the training.
No big deal it was offered to somebody else and everybody is happy.
The conversation went on today about how the "contracts not worth the paper its written on" "they'd never try to claim the money back". Pretty much every person who went on the training has no intention of paying anything back if they leave early.
The collective justification for this was it was only a days training and clearly not worth £1000. Clearly no understanding the £1000 is the likely cost to our employer due to the licensing.
So my question is really how common are these sorts of repayment requirements? How often do employers activate them? Presumably they are enforceable if written correctly and reasonable?
So the story is, about a quarter of the office were asked to do some specific training, it's a form of assessment training that is lacking as a skillset across our team, however when the e-mail for the dates of the training came round it had a payback schedule. £1000 if you leave within the year, £800 in year two, £500 in year three.
Given the nature of the training, in that it requires a specific license to the individual but is not transferable if you move employers and the fact I don't see the career progression I'd like in three years I declined the training.
No big deal it was offered to somebody else and everybody is happy.
The conversation went on today about how the "contracts not worth the paper its written on" "they'd never try to claim the money back". Pretty much every person who went on the training has no intention of paying anything back if they leave early.
The collective justification for this was it was only a days training and clearly not worth £1000. Clearly no understanding the £1000 is the likely cost to our employer due to the licensing.
So my question is really how common are these sorts of repayment requirements? How often do employers activate them? Presumably they are enforceable if written correctly and reasonable?
I had one for a professional qualification at a previous employer. Made it a term of my redundancy that I did not need to pay it back 
Not sure in your circumstance they would have much luck enforcing it at tribunal since it is non-transferable, but at the end of the day, they have signed a legally binding contract.
Not sure in your circumstance they would have much luck enforcing it at tribunal since it is non-transferable, but at the end of the day, they have signed a legally binding contract.
IMO those are rather onerous.
The ones for the place I work for are 100% if the employee leaves within 0 to 3 months, 75% within 3 to 6 months, 50% between 6 and 9 months, and 25% within 9 to 12 months.
IMO in general if it's something that benefits you then it's reasonable to ask for money back if the employer has not got some "value" out of the course. If on the other hand it's dictated and is of no interest or benefit to you, only to your employer then it's un-reasonable to attempt to recover any funds.
Still a trade off with time but 3 years for a one day course is very unreasonable!
The ones for the place I work for are 100% if the employee leaves within 0 to 3 months, 75% within 3 to 6 months, 50% between 6 and 9 months, and 25% within 9 to 12 months.
IMO in general if it's something that benefits you then it's reasonable to ask for money back if the employer has not got some "value" out of the course. If on the other hand it's dictated and is of no interest or benefit to you, only to your employer then it's un-reasonable to attempt to recover any funds.
Still a trade off with time but 3 years for a one day course is very unreasonable!
When I did my accountancy training you had to repay based on a sliding timescale - 100% if you left immediately down to 0% after 24 months. It seemed fair as we'd get tuition fees, study leave, exam fees, revision leave exam leave AND professional subscriptions. Plus it was 100% transferable.
My understanding is that if you sign an agreement to repay then it can be deducted from your final salary and you can be invoiced for any outstanding balance.
My understanding is that if you sign an agreement to repay then it can be deducted from your final salary and you can be invoiced for any outstanding balance.
A contractual obligation of this kind might be an unlawful restraint of trade if it seeks to inhibit the employee from changing jobs and/or might be an unenforceable penalty clause if it is not a genuine pre estimate of loss*. All depends on context, so any view expressed here must perforce be a bit general.
* The recent recalibration of the law on penalty in the context of parking charges would probably not affect this, as the Beavis case concerned a particular business model very different to that of an employer that makes available training for its employees.
* The recent recalibration of the law on penalty in the context of parking charges would probably not affect this, as the Beavis case concerned a particular business model very different to that of an employer that makes available training for its employees.
Had one where i used to work, they paid for my Degree (part time so not mega bucks) as part of the signing on process and form filling at work for approval was %70 if left within a year of completion, %50 if 1-2 years. I lasted 6months after my degree, paid them back %70 left a happy man! They gave me a day off a week to go to uni, during term times which was a God send so it didn't sting 2 bad paying them back.
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