Scrooge bosses fleece workers

I told in June how a recruitment firm was making employees pay the apprenticeship levy, which is supposed to be paid by employers with wage bills of more than £3million, with the money helping fund training schemes.

After the levy and other deductions were made, one haulage driver’s promised wage of £12.50 an hour ended up being just £7.85.

Now Unite, the UK’s largest union, is calling for an immediate ban on the practice, which it describes as highly immoral, although not illegal.

It has received a growing number of payslips from workers showing that employment agencies and umbrella companies are deducting the levy from workers’ pay.

“The most unscrupulous umbrella companies and agencies are deliberately undermining the apprentice levy by forcing workers to pay something which is supposed to be their responsibility,” said Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail.

“The Government must immediately look at this scam and introduce measures to prevent workers from being charged in this way.”