Employer messes up contributions

xylophone

Recieved a letter from my PAYE employer NHS to say that the payroll provider has not deducted enough pension contributions for past 3 years and I am liable for nearly £3000 in back payments, this is due to my employers error and also the payroll provider they have admitted liability in the letter.

Then it would not be unreasonable to request repayment by instalments ?

System

andycuk wrote: »

No sarcasm just fact.

I was hoping for help not lectures.

Wrong forum. Very few people here are lecturers.

EnglishMohican

It seems very sad that we have to get to answer #8 before we get anything like a helpful or sympathetic answer and Xylophone at #12 is the first clearly helpful answer.

Loads of ever so clever people seem to have nothing better to do than be as aggressive and unhelpful as they possibly can be.

Lokolo

EnglishMohican wrote: »

It seems very sad that we have to get to answer #8 before we get anything like a helpful or sympathetic answer and Xylophone at #12 is the first clearly helpful answer.

Loads of ever so clever people seem to have nothing better to do than be as aggressive and unhelpful as they possibly can be.

Instead of moaning about it why don't you (or didn't you) contribute yourself?

somethingcorporate

Lol, this thread is funny.

OP, you share some responsibility for understanding your payslip, if you do not understand it there is usually a number on the bottom to call, or ask a colleague to explain it to you.

If there has been an error by the employer then no doubt the obvious thing is to negotiate with them - paying back by installments seems a perfectly reasonable compromise.

I am not really sure what you wanted to hear....?

zzzLazyDaisy

OP, it doesn't matter how the mistake occurred, whether it was yours or theirs. The fact is that it is YOUR pension fund, and YOU have not made the normal contributions. Instead, you had that money in your wage packet. This is not a criticism, it is simply a statement of fact.

The employer has notified you of the mistake, and is giving you the opportunity to pay the money back into the pension fund (which, in most pension schemes, would not normally be possible, if you had missed pension contributions for other reasons). So they are giving you the opportunity to return the money to the pension pot. You don't have to do this, in which case your pension will be adjusted to take account of the missing payments.

If you wish to preserve the value of your pension, I suggest that you speak to your employer and arrange to pay the money back into the fund by installments from your salary each month. It is an unfortunate occurance but mistakes happen, and as others have said, the onus is on the employee to check their wages slips.

atush

I would think, as they have admitted the error they will let you pay in installments over time.

I think this will be your best bet, negotiate them over a period of at least 3 years (as that was the length of time it took them to realise their mistake) and try for 5 to make it affordable if you can.

Good, luck, hold your ground, ask your Union for help, and whatever you do, get those added years paid up. The NHS scheme is a good one, and you cannot afford to let those years to your FS pension go.

EnglishMohican

Lokolo wrote: »

Instead of moaning about it why don't you (or didn't you) contribute yourself?

Because the answer had already been given - partly by those who said that the money still had to be paid but mostly by Xylophone who suggested that installments was probably a good way forward.

My purpose was to support the OP to some extent by recognising the nastiness of some of the answers and merely repeating the useful bits of two or three preceding posts would have weakened my point and added little extra value.

As you did not see any need to expand on the answer either, I can only assume that you agree it had been answered albeit briefly.

I note that since I posted, there have been two or three excellent replies that do repeat the earlier answers but do so in a caring and civil manner. All praise to those posters for producing useful clarifications.

xylophone

I appreciate that the OP had received the money and presumably spent it.

I also appreciate that an employee has the responsibility to check his payslip.

However, the OP appears to have two jobs with the same employer and works shifts and possibly overtime and all this may make his affairs more complex.

It is perfectly understandable that he expected the "experts" to get it right.

The "experts" have made and acknowledged their error - by way of compensation they should enable the employee to regulate matters in a way that causes him the least financial pain?

Just a personal opinion.

atush

And one I certainly share.