9. Pay, repayment clauses and other deductions
teams advise that it’ s often difficult to challenge repayments and deductions via the legal route.
Caseworkers have had some success in pursuing an informal approach with the employer if a member is facing unreasonable costs and deductions. They can do this by:
• Asking for a breakdown of the costs listed
• Challenging any items explicitly forbidden to be charged to employees by the Home Office( sponsors cannot charge members to sponsor them or be charged for items such as the certificate of sponsorship fee or immigration skills charge). and
• Drawing the employer’ s attention to the Government’ s Code of practice for international recruitment.
Template letter for informally challenging excessive deductions
The letter below has been used successfully to challenge deductions and can be adapted according to the specifics of the case.
Successful use of template letter on unlawful fees
“[ After receiving the letter ], the employer came back and said they’ d refund the £ 3,000 immigration skills charge. We went back and said the £ 239 CoS fee was also an unacceptable charge which needed to be refunded, and considering the“ professional charge” of £ 295 was to process two illegitimate fees, that should be refunded too. The director asked to meet and asked us to not report him to UKVI. At the meeting he agreed to refund the full £ 3500. He apologised for the member being dismissed and said the manager would be“ spoken to.” He’ s reinstated the member with compensation for backpay. He’ s also going to promote UNISON in the care home and distribute our recruitment forms, and he’ s speaking to the local Care Association about holding union events...” – UNISON organiser
Dear( insert name of employer)
I am writing to you from the trade union UNISON on behalf of our member( insert name) in relation to the fee( insert amount) they paid to you on( insert date).
( insert name of member) was informed they must pay the fee in acceptance of the Certificate of Sponsorship you provided. They were not informed what the fee was for / they were informed the fee was for( insert reason – CoS / admin / legal fees).
When recruiting international workers, sponsors must adhere to the UK
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