3k owed from mat leave overpayment!

[Allnurseandnopay]

NC for this due to paranoia for my bosses reading (they don't)

I'm a nurse in the NHS. My manager didn't fill in a form informing payroll I'm on mat leave. I didn't notice until October's pay date, as I was on full pay for the first 8 weeks. I let my manager know, it was past the deadline for November's pay to be corrected so I was overpaid then too. I got paid £1800 in December which is correct. I expected to be billed £1500ish for the tso months overpayment, then this delightful letter arrived today.

I was told I get 8wks full pay then 18 weeks half pay plus SMP. I work regular 9-5 hours so my pay is a static 2.5k, and was correct on my qualifying week.

I called payroll and they said I was £900 overpaid on the months I was meant to be on full pay. They are sending calculations later, but WTF, how?! The only thing I can think of is if London weighting isn't included? I just thought full pay meant full pay.

HR said they'd send me a forecast months ago but they never did. I stupidly wasn't worried as my pay is static.

Any HR geniuses around?

Daily rates are calculated weirdly - divide by number of days in that month.

And pension isn’t salary sacrifice. It’s a pre-tax deduction but not deducted from gross salary for mat leave calculations.

Similar happened to my friend. They can’t demand it all back in a lump sum, you decide what rate to pay it back. She chose to pay £20 a month back, and though it took a few years to pay the full amount that way, it meant she wasn’t left short because of it.

Oh shit.

Thanks so much @nerdsville and @NeedAnExpert for making this understandable.

Payroll are asking for 4 payments of 729 back. I actually wanted to move to another job in the NHS so need to (somehow) pay this back before I go. Will the 729 include tax/pension? Can I freeze my pension?

I'm really fucked. I saved 1.5k thinking this would be the difference. I feel so stupid.

You must have been overpaid on Dec as well then.

It’s really hard to advise you on what other people are telling you.

Can you access your payslips on ESR?

It’s likely they are talking gross figures, and there would be adjustments (downwards) to account for the tax and pension paid but that isn’t a straightforward calculation. Is the other job in a different Trust?

I can’t believe you didn’t push for a breakdown of pay before you went off.

They can’t demand it all back in a lump sum, you decide what rate to pay it back.

They can if you leave/move Trusts.

Yeah - I'd be moving Trusts.

I didn't push because I assumed my manager had done their job. I wish I asked in October but it just didn't occur to me. Life was hectic. I just saved what I thought was right.

Thanks for clarifying NeedAnExpert - OP you can ignore my attempt!

Give payroll a ring, be pleasant and polite (remember this is your manager's fault not payroll's) and ask them very nicely if they'll consider a longer repayment period. Always works better on me than people who call up shouting.

Actually you could also ask your manager to advocate on your behalf too given that they're the one who didn't send in the form in the first place.

I can access my payslips

you will be paying back more than seems reasonable because as well as your bank balance being overpaid they will have also overpaid your tax, NI and pension contributions and they will be reclaiming those overpayments from your bank balance rather than getting the money back from those other destinations. not fair, but normal as employers tend to be awful.

they aren't allowed to put you in poverty by forcing you to pay back more than you can manage. they certainly aren't allowed to make any deductions from SMP.

offer to give them the amount of overpayment that you saved as a lump sum now if they will agree to wait till you are earning again after ML and accept gradual repayment at a rate you can afford for the remainder. that would be a good deal for them - it wouldn't have been unreasonable if you had failed to notice and already spent the lot - in such case they couldn't expect you to magic up money you don't have. they have a duty of care to you not to put you into financial hardship. this was their mistake.

You manager should be helping you with this too.

Update -

They have now put my overpayment as £2500 gross. If I leave the Trust they will give me a bill minus tax, which payroll estimated to be between 1.5-1.8k, but they will confirm the figure next week.

Thank fuck for that lesson definitely learned there.

a gross overpayment of 2573.37. There would be a reduction for tax and pension overpaid on this.