salary overpayment

tilla66

Hi I recently studied a return to nursing course and received a bursery. I was overpaid by £1000. I had already spent most of it before I realised the overpayment and it has taken 3 months for the recovery people to contact me. I spoke with them today and said I could afford to pay back £30 a month at the moment, I have just started work this month part time and am living in overdraft. they said they would let the hospital know and they would make a decision as to whethter this was acceptable or not. I am really worried they wont accept it, I am happy to pay it back and once finances are improved will up the payment because I dont want another debt hanging over me but what if they say no? Are there laws to say they have to accept my offer or laws to say I have to pay more? we are completely skint at the moment. Thanks for any advice

davetrousers

You didn't realise you had £1000 extra?

SarEl

If you cannot pay it (or refuse to pay it) back then whether they accept an offer of installments is up to them. If they do not then they will have to take you to court, and if you are unable to pay then the court will determine what installments should be. However, you should avoid this if possible. It will get you a bad credit rating. And what you think you can afford per month is not necessarily the same thing as what the court will think. Although courts allow reasonable costs for living expenses before setting an amount, they don't include the sorts of things that you might! It will also cost you more as a debt if it goes to court, as court fees and their costs will be added to whatever you owe.

It's hard to say whether the hospital will accept your offer - to be honest £30 against a debt of £1,000 isn't very much at all, and it's going to take you three years to pay it back. They may not consider that to be reasonable. So I would advise you to consider what more you may be able to afford if they refuse - rather than let it go to court.

tilla66

Too long to explain why I didnt notice an extra £1000, but basically, no i didnt, have been living off a loan and had some major problems so by the time I got a phonecall to ask can I check my statements the money was already spent, thinking the balance was part of my loan.

I am really worried now. has anyone had experience with the nhs and overpayments? they have a whole dept for it! must happen a lot!

Just want to know if you've had experience have they been sympathetic and accepted a low offer to begin with? Happy to increase once I have cleared my overdraft, they did say in the letter they understand it can cause people sigfnificant difficulties to repay large amounts, sounds sympathetic to me?

[Deleted User]

I dont have experience of NHS overpayments but of Council when they overpaid sick pay, they work along similar lines. They wanted repaying over 12 months minimum and took it directly from my wages.
They were willling to use other recovery methods if I refused and I was advised by Unison to accept as I was on to a loser to try and fight it.

icklejulez

My BF does work in this department on and off although he deals more with the grants and bursery payments, I think as long as you give them a statement explaining your circumstances and offering to break down your income and outgoings(reasonable costs) then they will accept it but Im afraid he's at work at present.