Can a part-time employee paid NMW be required to undertake a necessary qualification and be required to pay for it, even though his wages would then fall below the NMW?

Firstly, any such deductions from pay must either be agreed in advance with the employee or must be set out in his/her contract of employment.

In respect of NMW, certain sums must be deducted from total gross pay in order to reach NMW pay. These sums should be included when calculating a worker’s hourly rate and will reduce the amount of the worker’s total earnings for NMW purposes. These include deductions in respect of expenditure in connection with employment (e.g. tools, cleaning of uniforms etc) and deductions which are for the employer’s “own use and benefit”.

The deduction does not have to be solely for the employer’s own use or benefit and it is irrelevant whether the arrangements