overpaid by employer

apples101

Advise please.

i have alledgeedly been over paid by my employer to the tune of £3k last year.

they have admitted responsibility for the mess up but havn't provided any information to back up their claims.

they are proposing to pay back the money over 20 weeks (120/w).

do i have to pay this back? (if indeed i did receive the money)

PS. i am on a debt management plan and cannot not afford any more outgiings.

Acc72

First of all, you need to ascertain whether you have been overpaid or not.

As the company have raised this then this is their responsibility to prove this to your full satisfaction.

In the meantime you do not have to make any repayments - if the company take anything from your pay then this is an unlawful deduction.

Even if it is proved that you were overpaid, you still need to give written permission for any payments to be taken.

madduck

Hi Apples

As the other poster has already mentioned, you need to ascertain first that there has been an overpayment. Make sure that you get detailed information from your employer backing up their claim that there has been an overpayment (in writing) not just their verbal claim. Also, get something from them to explain how it happened.

Had you any suspicions that there might have been something wrong?

Even if you have to pay it back - and don't agree to anything yet - it would seem only fair that they take it back over no less than the same time period as it accrued. That is to say if it was built up over a year it is paid back over a year.

In terms of your DMP, presumably if there is a doubly whammy here, your salary is going to be £3k less than before and possibly you are going to be paying back the overpayment over a period of time. You're going to have to speak to the organisation who is dealing with your DMP or if you've organised it yourself, contact the people you owe money to as soon as possible.

Are you a member of a union? If so, it might be useful to get them involved to help fight your corner with your employer.

If not, come back to the board and I'm sure that we will all be happy to provide advice.

HazelEyes_3

Check your statement of employment/ contract - your employer is legally obliged to provide one so you should have received this when you started work.
Some contracts have clauses about reclaiming overpayments. If your contract doesn't mention this then employers can't make deductions without your permission. In any case an employer is supposed to act "reasonably" so even if they prove you owe the money you can suggest an amount you can afford.
BTW 20 weeks at £120 pw is £2400 so presumably this is the net amount after allowing for tax and NI?

FatJock

Apples,

I could be wrong but I think they want the money back over 20 weeks brcause of tax year implications. I'm not sure if they can claim it back after that or need to write it off.

A similar thing happened to a mate of mine a few years ago. He was overpaid (but didn't know it) and when the company asked for the money back he contested the overpayment. He wanted them to prove his employeers had indeed overpaid him. Too cut a long story short they want they money back in the same tax year in which it was paid to balance their books otherwise it caused problems in their accounting dept. I dont think he ever repaid it.

Cheers,
FatJock

apples101

thanks for your replies.

i have already asked for the proof, to which they have sent a letter detailing how the errors occured and accepting responsibility, but no proff that they made the payments, nor that they were corrected at a later date.

hjb123

The first and most important thing for you to do is check your payslips and check whether you have been overpaid - surely it would have been noticed if you were getting overpaid to the tune of £3000 in a year?

It may be worth you speaking to the Citizens Advice Bureau or ACAS who should be able to advise.

If you thought you were due that money and hadnt realised the overpayment and have financial committments then you may be in a stronger position but its hard to say really.

nomoneytoday

Surely you would notice an extra £250 a month in your payslip??

Mics_chick

Did you get a payrise therefore didn't realise you were being overpaid?

apples101

i generally know what i am being paid on a weekly basis.

i am a contractor and used a managed company (firm of accountants) to look after my tax concerns. so i can change "employer" regularly. i havn't done so for three years now, so pehapps a change is in order.

the over payments were made in two payments. the first which occured christmas 04/05, i recall point out that they had under paid me they apparently then recalculated the pay and paid the full ammount instead of the outstanding ammount. (this i dont recall!!)

second time was to do with an expenses correction in march 05 again they paid me for an entire month instead of the aditonal expenses. (again i dont recall this) and i would notice this ammount of money!!

i certainly do intend pusshing them for a copy of the accounts for the whole year as i think that they would have corrected it if indeed thay did pay me the additional money!

CLAPTON

do you have a record of all these payments... invoices, payslips, bank statements...surely you must keep these for tax purposes?