Over paid in my wages

[Cruzxo]

Hi all

im currently on SMP. I finished work mid sept so I had half a month of normal wages and half a month at 90% of my basic. Then I has a month of 90% and then dec I had a company bonus so each month I contacted the accountant to check if my wages were correct. Each time I asked I was told they were. Then 2 days before this pay check they have contacted me via WhatsApp to advise I’ve been overpaid due to a ‘system error’ and this means I take home £350. This £350 is also including 2 days full pay due to KIT days. They then said they would send me over a breakdown of why I’ve been overpaid and I haven’t had this nearly a week later.

my question is… is this even legal? I totally understand if I’ve been overpaid they should receive the money back but at no point have they asked me how they can take it and what I can afford etc. also the fact I have questioned it every month and was told I was correctly paid each month.

I was overpaid years ago. They proposed they took the overpayment from the next 3 months wages. I just paid it all back, it was an obvious overpayment, not like yours where SMP was involved.
Just tell them you can afford to lose X amount per month from your wage and see if they agree to that.

They have already paid me. Payroll had already gone through 😞

At this stage whether it is legal is moot - they have taken the money and there is very little that you can do about it. Whether it is "legal" depends on what your contract says. But SMP counts as wages in law, so an overpayment can be taken from that. Even if it isn't technically legal, they aren't required to ask you whether you can afford it etc. It would have been decent of them to discuss that before taking it though.