Unpaid Wages and Unlawful Deductions

The legal frame

Many unpaid wages claims are framed as unlawful deductions from wages. Employment Rights Act 1996 section 13 says an employer must not make a deduction from wages unless it is authorised by law, by the contract, or by prior written agreement. Section 23 is the tribunal complaint route.

The first drafting question is not only "how much is missing?" It is: what sum was properly payable, when was it due, what was actually paid, and what legal basis makes the shortfall recoverable?

Payments to separate

• Basic salary or hourly pay for work already done.
• Overtime, shift premiums, allowances, or agreed uplifts.
• Commission or bonus, especially whether the entitlement is contractual or discretionary.
• Holiday pay under the Working Time Regulations 1998.
• Final pay, notice pay, deductions for training, deductions for property, or alleged overpayments.
• National Minimum Wage issues, which may also involve HMRC enforcement routes.

Evidence checklist

• Contract, offer letter, handbook, commission plan, bonus plan, or written pay agreement.
• Payslips, bank statements, payroll portal screenshots, P45/P60, and timesheets.
• Rota records, clock-in data, emails approving overtime, or messages confirming work done.
• A table showing gross pay due, gross pay paid, net pay paid, and the shortfall for each pay period.
• Any written consent the employer relies on for the deduction.
• Dates of each underpayment, especially the most recent one.

Time limits and series issues

ACAS guidance says a worker usually has 3 months minus 1 day from the deduction to make a claim. If there is a series of deductions, the clock can run from the most recent deduction. Back-pay recovery can be limited, so the draft should show each deduction date instead of presenting only a single total.

Series arguments are fact-sensitive. For example, a monthly salary underpayment may be easier to present as a sequence than unrelated one-off disputes. TribunalKit can structure the table, but it does not decide whether a legal series exists.

How to write the ET1 narrative

1. Identify the employment relationship and pay terms.
2. Explain the sums properly payable and the dates they were due.
3. Show what was paid and what was missing.
4. State why the deduction was not authorised.
5. Attach or summarise a period-by-period calculation.
6. State the remedy sought: arrears, holiday pay, interest where applicable, or other sums.

How TribunalKit supports this draft

TribunalKit asks for pay periods, contractual basis, deduction reason, and supporting documents. The output is a source-linked wage claim draft and a calculation table that can be checked against payslips before use.

Related product: TribunalKit unpaid wages builder.

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