Wages still being paid AFTER leaving a job!

purplepardalis

Hi OP - you're going to have to speak to them to get your P45 for tax reasons. Make sure that if they ask you to return the money, that HMRC are notified that you did not actually receive it and therefore pay tax. Else you may end up pay more tax and NIC than you should have. What tax code have they been using in your new job?

Mine's_a_guinness

At least when they find out what's happened they'll be glad you've gone. If I was an employer I wouldn't want somebody so 'hypothetically' dishonest working for me. You know it isn't yours just pay it back.

Uncertain

99.99% of overpayment / payments in error are recoverable. There have been a few cases where courts have ruled in favour of the recipient but it needs a rare combination of circumstances.

It might JUST be possible to engineer a circumstance where, in the unlikely event that they continue to pay having be properly told of their error, you could at least retain some fee or charge.

However, you cannot normally force the terms of a contract by the silence of the other party so, for example, writing to them to say "if you continue to make these payments you have agreed to pay me an admin fee of £100 for returning them" is unlikely to be enforceable.

Frankly, based on your postings so far, it is going to need a better mind than yours to come up with something legally watertight!

If the payments weren't ongoing you might opt to keep quiet in the feint hope that they don't notice for 6 years (5 in Scotland). In that unlikely event the money would be irrecoverable.

However, with it ongoing the 6 years would be from the last payment so that doesn't help you either.

Pay it back!

slandlondon

Uncertain wrote: »

99.99% of overpayment / payments in error are recoverable. There have been a few cases where courts have ruled in favour of the recipient but it needs a rare combination of circumstances.

It might JUST be possible to engineer a circumstance where, in the unlikely event that they continue to pay having be properly told of their error, you could at least retain some fee or charge.

However, you cannot normally force the terms of a contract by the silence of the other party so, for example, writing to them to say "if you continue to make these payments you have agreed to pay me an admin fee of £100 for returning them" is unlikely to be enforceable.

Frankly, based on your postings so far, it is going to need a better mind than yours to come up with something legally watertight!

If the payments weren't ongoing you might opt to keep quiet in the feint hope that they don't notice for 6 years (5 in Scotland). In that unlikely event the money would be irrecoverable.

However, with it ongoing the 6 years would be from the last payment so that doesn't help you either.

Pay it back!

Thanks for your reply. This is the sort of interesting knowledge/opinion/advice I was seeking - and not the sort of 'pay it back you cad' type response.

YES of course I will pay it back you comedians - BUT only when I NEED to! In the meantime it will sit there in my bank account.

Sorry if it riles people to hear this attitude, but hard cheese to them (the former employers that is!)

To clarify, my original posting was to ascertain what (if any) liability there would be on my part for not returning it ASAP (e.g interest accrued, etc) - they would have to prove at what point I became aware of having the wrongly paid wages.

And, as is stated in this reply to my original post, IF amazingly this situation developed in such a way that any of the erroneously paid salary could subsequently be kept then why would I want to jeopardise that happening (however unlikely it may be)?!

As for the tax situation.... because i went straight into another job faster than a P45 would have been issued anyway, even if there had been no incompetence at my former employers, I filled out a P46 form with the new employers.

getmore4less

The problem is it can get messy if you go over a tax year especialy if the combined earnings take you into the 40% bracket for tax.

You end up dealing with 2 employers and HMRC to sort it out.

It really is best to come clean ASAP and get it sorted.

Uncertain

slandlondon wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. This is the sort of interesting knowledge/opinion/advice I was seeking - and not the sort of 'pay it back you cad' type response.

YES of course I will pay it back you comedians - BUT only when I NEED to! In the meantime it will sit there in my bank account.

Sorry if it riles people to hear this attitude, but hard cheese to them (the former employers that is!)

To clarify, my original posting was to ascertain what (if any) liability there would be on my part for not returning it ASAP (e.g interest accrued, etc) - they would have to prove at what point I became aware of having the wrongly paid wages.

And, as is stated in this reply to my original post, IF amazingly this situation developed in such a way that any of the erroneously paid salary could subsequently be kept then why would I want to jeopardise that happening (however unlikely it may be)?!

As for the tax situation.... because i went straight into another job faster than a P45 would have been issued anyway, even if there had been no incompetence at my former employers, I filled out a P46 form with the new employers.

You obviously found my post more encouraging than I intended!!

I try to refrain from making moral judgements and simply reply from a practical and legal point of view.

It seems to me that your chances of "getting away" with this are very slim. Given that you will have to keep the money untouched your only real gain is the small amount of interest it will accrue until they realise their mistake.

You probably have a better chance of a win on the lottery or premium bonds than getting to the six year statute barred point.

Your best hope is that some payroll clerk realises their mistake, stops further payments but then tries to cover it up rather than owning up. In this case it will depend on whether their auditors pick it up at year end. If they do the clerk will probably lose their job (OK, not your problem) and you will get stroppy demands for repayment.

So, if we are talking about a taxable 3% on a few thousand for say six months is it worth the hassle?

dmg24

I can't wait until the OP tries to get a reference from this employer!

Uncertain

dmg24 wrote: »

I can't wait until the OP tries to get a reference from this employer!

Well, he says he has a new job so they are no longer his most recent employer.

slandlondon

dmg24 wrote: »

I can't wait until the OP tries to get a reference from this employer!

Another pointless !!!!!! reply. I already have had one - hence my stating that I already had a new job!

....and for future job applications I wont necessarily have to resort to requesting seeking one again from this most recent employer.

slandlondon

Uncertain wrote: »

So, if we are talking about a taxable 3% on a few thousand for say six months is it worth the hassle?

Actually Yes! The amount now in the account, combined with the requirement to 'deposit' at least £1000 per month, now means I get bumped into the highest rate of interest bracket for that account, which equates to £224 per year of interest paid - not trivial.