Wages Overpayment

martb87

The company I work for was the victim of a cyber attack that affected the payroll department for 4 weeks. I am paid weekly and for 1 of those weeks I got paid twice. 

Getting paid twice meant I lost a large chunk of my universal credit, roughly £400 as it meant  my threshold increased.

Now my employer is demanding I repay the extra weeks wage I received.

Where do I stand in refusing to repay this overpayment or at least recouping the money I lost from universal credit?

thanks

The_Fat_Controller

As you are paid weekly why didn't you notice the double payment immediately ?

You will need to repay the overpayment, if you refuse you could lose your job.

As for the UC, speak to them and explain the issue.

 

Undervalued

martb87 said:

The company I work for was the victim of a cyber attack that affected the payroll department for 4 weeks. I am paid weekly and for 1 of those weeks I got paid twice. 

Getting paid twice meant I lost a large chunk of my universal credit, roughly £400 as it meant  my threshold increased.

Now my employer is demanding I repay the extra weeks wage I received.

Where do I stand in refusing to repay this overpayment or at least recouping the money I lost from universal credit?

thanks

Nowhere at all! The employer is quite entitled to recoup any accidental overpayment.

If, as a result of their mistake, you have suffered a consequential loss of your UC then you might have a claim against the employer. Whether it is in your best overall interest to pursue that is another matter.

Assuming you can't get the UC backdated (I don't know the rules) then I would certainly work out carefully how much you are out of pocket and discuss this with your employer and see what they say.

goldieandblackie

If you don't repay the overpayment it makes you no more than a common thief.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

goldieandblackie said:

If you don't repay the overpayment it makes you no more than a common thief.

That's a bit strong.  Was common really necessary 🤔

mr_stripey

did you alert your employer when you received the extra payment?

Failing to do so would be regarded by many employers and dishonest or untrustworthy.

TELLIT01

Even if the employer was informed, that money would still potentially show on the records used for UC with the consequent loss of benefit payment.  Others more knowledgeable on UC than me may be able to advise on whether or not the payment would be reinstated if the employer provided an explanation and the money had been repaid.

B0bbyEwing

mr_stripey said:

did you alert your employer when you received the extra payment?

Failing to do so would be regarded by many employers and dishonest or untrustworthy.

Granted, I've skim read, but I didn't see anywhere where the OP said at which point the overpayment was noticed. 

Was it the day of payment, was it yesterday?

Some of the people I work with don't bother checking their payslips or bank balance. They work, they take for granted that they'll be paid correctly & they pay for things by contactless, assuming there'll always be something on the card.