What do I do??? Am I going to have no money?

[namechanged707]

Okay...
I work part time and would expect between £500-£600 on a normal month for my job (that was the expectation).
I claim childcare for my baby in a baby wing and get help with housing costs as my DP is in education full time until summer.
December was my first month working there and I was paid close to £1,200! I assumed Christmas bonus - I did email the manager to enquire and double check but heard nothing.
I have to give my payslip in on Monday to be able to reclaim for temporary help with childcare and rent. The payslip says nothing about a Christmas bonus, just a basic wage of £1,280 and then tax/NI deductions.
Are they going to think I'm lying and tell them that that shouldn't be my normal wage? If I don't get my temporary help from them then I wouldn't be able to pay rent or nursery fees.
If it was a mistake on works part, are they going to make me pay it back after a month???

I'm so stressed that I won't be able to pay rent or childcare!

Not nasty just pragmatic.

Payroll made an error. Agreed . If she hadn’t have spent it then would still be a childcare problem but she could have possibly used the extra to cover the one month childcare. Or at least help mitigate the situation. Lots of sympathy and people trying to help.

Then emerges that she spent the money. Which turns a bad situation into a dreadful one. Because she needs to pay the money back, and lots of business would ask for it immediately or in the next payroll. And it doesn’t give a cushion to help the childcare situation.

She spent a significant amount of money, which she hadn’t expected or planned for, very fast. Hence sympathy about spending it is limited

OP you shouldn’t have posted this in AIBU, money matters would have been a better place for advice.

No good advice ever comes from these threads here in AIBU

OP, can you suggest to your manager that you work overtime for free to pay the debt off? Presumably your partner could look after your DC if it's out of college hours so you wouldn't need to worry about the childcare cost.

Also it is very important that you understand that it is a debt. Although it was put in your bank account by mistake, it wasn't yours to spend. It belongs to your company and has to be returned.

Ask for an accurate payslip for a start, to get your claim in. Then work out a repayment plan with work.

God, I just feel absolutely horrific and know I'm just being pathetic. I completely agree it should've been spent and I was completely immature with it. DP thinks it's equally - if not more - their fault for blatantly ignoring my request for them to look into it and not even noticing such an error until I'd rang and enquired.
Supervisor is looking into it for me to see options and to sort things out with still receiving help towards childcare and housing costs but still no idea how much they'll allow me to pay in instalments.
Just feel like an absolute idiot (yes, I know I am, thank you everyone), especially because the phone call with my supervisor was in front of all of my colleagues, everyone's going to be discussing what's happened and know how much of an error I've made on my first month and how upset I am over it and think I'm absolutely ridiculous.
Just want to crawl in a hole and feel sorry for myself because of my stupid mistakes right now.

When, she's had all the advice she needs. There is not other advice to give. She also had sympathy, along with a little dose of "learn a lesson" which is very suitable in this situation.

You cannot benefit from money paid to you in error, and it is your responsibility to know how much money you should have. If a bank accidently transfers thousands of pounds into your account, and you spent it, you will be prosecuted (as has happened many times). The bank made an error, but if you use that error to your advantage it becomes your problem.

If your employer overpays you, it is your job to know how much you're meant to get and you do not spend any extra until explicitly told it is not an error. She did, and hopefully this will have taught her the correct way to deal with this in the future. When it's an extra £10 a month in error, then it's understandable to not notice and then sort it out once brought to your attention. But this was £700 more than expected. It's noticeable and spending it has bemused a lot of people. She did, so clearly needed a dose of reality. She got that. But no one was actually nasty.

There’s a chance they may just deduct it from next months wages. You need to speak to them again and arrange a payment plan I think.

It's not their fault OP. Whichever company they use for payroll has made this mistake, and if they have hundreds (more?) of employees they can't see everything all of the time, especially not just before Christmas.
All you did to contact them was email - you needed to speak to an actual person which you've done now.

Someone upthread told her she could lose her job

Even if it was correct you still would have had to submit that payslip so you wouldn’t have received the help with rent and childcare this month would you?
You did receive the money, whether it was an error or not so it still would have affected your claim either way- did you not realise that?

It's not your employers fault. They made an error but you did notice it you just chose to spend the extra money. Although you sent an email you didn't follow it with a phone call or conversation so you didn't make much of an effort to get to the bottom of it.
Have you spoken to the benefits office about what happens now? That needs to be your priority

TantrumsandBalloons exactly that!

@Sugarhunnyicedtea yes, employer is going to send an email detailing the circumstances and how although I earned x amount, I technically didn't as I'm now paying it back and it was in error, so they'll only take into consideration the wage I actually earned and don't have to pay back.

OP won't lose her job - if she doesn't try and arrange either a repayment schedule or overtime, they will just deduct the full amount from her next pay. That's what she needs to deal with now.

@TantrumsAndBalloons it states on the allowance that one of the things they don't take into consideration is Christmas bonus' so that wouldn't be taken into account for a claim.

That's one good thing then. Sorry if I've missed it but I'm assuming you're not in the UK? That seems very lenient from the benefits office

@Sugarhunnyicedtea Isle of Man.

Can you return any of the things you spent it on? Effectively you will now go at least one month without pay.

Has your employer agreed you can pay back in installments? Ask what they intend to do, as Tumbleweed said now they know they’ve overpaid you they might take it all in one go out of your next pay.

Boss has just called again, said she still doesn't know if I'm going to be allowed to pay it in instalments.

The information here www.gov.uk/understanding-your-pay/deductions-from-your-pay might be useful. Also the link to ACAS might be worth a look.

Did you buy anything you can take back? If you pay some of it back now they may be more likely to accept instalments

I expect that they, along with most other people, can't believe that you spent it.
If they flat refuse to let you pay in installments then you could go to ACAS and see if they can help you.
I would also see what you can sell like a PP suggested. I can't believe that you don't have much tangible for £600-700 spent in a fortnight.

It's time for plan B. Do you have any family would would be willing to loan it to you, with the agreement that it will take you at least a year to pay it off if you use around 10-15% of you salary?