Overpaid by work, need some advice!

gw172000

Hi everyone!

I have been getting overpaid from my employer for the past 3/4 months, In short, I cut my hours by half but I was still getting the same amount as I was when I was working full time. At first I thought it was just pay from the month before I went part time and that it'd balance itself out. However, after the second month, I knew it wasn't right but decided to keep quiet and hoped it would work itself out, when I got the third pay and it was wrong, I notified my employer who have only just resolved this now, after paying me a further incorrect wage. The result now is that I owe them a considerable amount of money and they have offered to let me pay this over 18 months - which is reasonable but would now leave me short.

I am fully aware that I have been overpaid and as such, I am expected to pay this money back. However, after I notified them, they still continued to pay me incorrectly. At first I was putting the money aside as I knew they'd ask for it back so I have some savings, but I have also spent a large sum of the money - being a student, it was hard to ignore the extra wages.

Again, I understand that I need to pay this money back. However, I was looking to see where I stand and if there was anyway the amount owing could be reduced? At the end of the day, this was their problem and if they would've paid me correctly, I would never have been put in this situation. Also, I have been paying tax and national insurance that I otherwise wouldn't have been if I was being paid correctly, where do I stand with this and getting this money back?

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

getmore4less

3-4 months overpayment to be repaid over 18 months is very generous.


You failed to notify them immediately you knew there may be an overpayment then spent it and now want them to get you out of your own mess.

if you needed to spend this money how would you survive even if they were not deducting it?

marlot

You had the opportunity to keep the money to one side. You could even have had a verbal warning for not reporting it earlier.

>>At the end of the day, this was their problem and if they would've paid me correctly, I would never have been put in this situation.

That's a bit like saying it's OK to shoplift because the shop left the goods on display.

xapprenticex

O/P dont spend the money and complain to HR.

marlot wrote: »

That's a bit like saying it's OK to shoplift because the shop left the goods on display.

"It's okay to shoplift because they store their stock in my living room" is more realistic, doesn't really happen though.

TELLIT01

You should only have to repay the net overpayment ie. the figure minus tax and NI. I agree with others who say that being given 18 months to repay is a reasonable amount of time. You have stated that you realised for certain that you were being overpaid when it happened for the second time, and that you were putting the money aside. Not having that money available now was a concious decision made by you.

marliepanda

Complaining to HR is likely to get their very generous offer of 18 months reduced to something lower.

There is absolutely no chance they will reduce the amount owed.

You spent money that doesn't belong to you. It's really very simple. You told them after three payments, yet you're complaining THEY didn't act quick enough once you did decide to tell them? Maybe you missed a payroll cut off? However your excuse is nothing short of dishonesty.

The tax is irrelevant. You'll get that back.

The national insurance overpayment? Well I'd have some sympathy with you overpaying on one wage slip. The other three are your own fault for being dishonest and greedy.

silvercar

Have they told you how much your payslip will reduce?

Very round figures. If you were earning £24k salary and went half hours, monthly pay would have been about £1,624 and would drop on half hours to £945. That would mean they have over paid you by £680 for 4 months ie £2720. Repaying that over 18 months would be £151 a month. So your £945 would drop to £796.

getmore4less

xapprenticex wrote: »

O/P dont spend the money and complain to HR.

.

they already spent it that's why they will be short.

DCFC79

You did a good thing by putting the extra money aside and should have kept on doing it.

The 18 months to pay it back is very generous, in future keep a watchful eye on the payslips.

Enfieldian

So you want to reclaim the Income Tax and National Insurance subtracted from money that you should not have been paid in the first place?

TBagpuss

18 months to repay 3 /4 months overpayments is extremely generous. It's pretty common to agree for overpayments to be made at the same rate as they were overpaid, in which case you would be expected to pay it back within 3/4 months.

And this was not just down to uour employer - you could reaslistically have belived that it was back pay in the first pay packet, but there is no reason not to have raised it as soon as you got the second wrong payment, rather than deciding to keep quiet and hope they wouldn't notice.

You definitely owe them the money and hveto repay. It sounds as though they have been more than reasonable in the timescale that they are offering and I'd suggest tht you agree their offer. If you genuinely can't fford those payments then draw up a schedule of your income and outgoings and go to your employer with it, and with your proposal as to how much you pay back each week/month but but be prepared for the fact that they may not agree your proposal.