Overpaid at work.

zzzLazyDaisy

The NMW is a red herring, as you would still be paid for the time worked, and this would still appear on your payslip. The money you owe the employer would be deducted from that figure. It is simply another deduction like tax, NIC, and pension, none of which change the fact that you are earning NMW, even if you do not actually receive that figure after deductions.

As far as the over-payment is concerned. You have a duty to notify the employer of any overpayment. You dropped 2.5 hours a week, but your wages remained exactly the same. That is ten hours' pay a month, which is something most people would have noticed. However, again, that is an irrelevance. The error has been discovered and the employer is legally entitled to deduct the money from your wages (overpaid wages is one of the exceptions to the unlawful deductions legislation).

Your best bet is to speak to the employer and try and arrange to repay the money over a longer period of time. It is worth asking for a statement of the money owed and the monthly deduction so you can check that the overall amount is correct. Also, remember that the original overpayment was paid gross, but you did not actually receive that amount as you paid tax and NI on that figure. If they reclaim the full gross repayment from your net pay after tax and NI has been paid, you will in effect be paying tax and NI twice. So the deduction needs to be taken before tax & ni, not after.

harrys_dad

If you belong to a Union ask them to negotiate a longer repayment period (although it is already two years). if not, try this yourself. I would also emphasise overpayment of NI, and possibly tax (although this might sort itself out when you start to repay). What I think is particularly important is any effect it may have had on your benefits, such as WTC.