Overpaid at work, do I have to pay it back?

[Illdoitinabit]

Posting here for traffic.

My ex employer has just emailed to say I've been overpaid on my maternity and now owe them just over £100. I left the company in February and this is apparently from January. They never sent me payslips and I never received my p45 or p60 so have nothing to check back myself, although I will request them. Where do I stand on this? If I have been overpaid do I owe it back?

You do have to pay it back but it is perfectly reasonable to ask for your payslips etc first and to pay back in instalments.

Yes.

Yes but they should provide payslips first

If they can prove they've overpaid you, I'm pretty sure you have to pay them back, although they'd have to take you to court and they might not bother for such a small sum. Will you need a reference from them?

I think a polite 'please send me my payslips and P45/p60 and I'll review the situation' should suffice for the moment.

Would you take the same attitude if they underpaid you?

Of course you need to pay it back, once they've shown you the break down.

Yes. I was in a situation where I left the employer but they continued to pay me, I contacted them to let them know and they continued. So naively I thought that meant I wasn't liable to repay as I had informed them, but no that was not the case. Eventually I got a letter from them with a request to repay so I arranged to repay at £50 a month over a 2 year period.

Tell them to send payslips. Then offer £5 a month

Yes you need to pay it back- check their sums though.
Why no p45 no p60?

Yes, you'll need to pay it back even though it was their mistake. You could request a payment plan if it's going to be difficult.

I would definitely ask them for your payslips and a P45 first though.

As far as I know, they can go to small claims to retrieve the money. To be honest, I would pay it back if you can, it isn't yours. Although arguably they're being quite petty, £100 is not a great deal of money in the grand scheme.

I would get proof and pay it back in installments, as pps have suggested.

If they can prove it then yes of course you have to pay it back, but you can do so in installments.

Definitely check their sums, once they've sent your documents through.

I wouldn't piss about with installments though, unless it would otherwise cause hardship. Would people really drag out repayment over nearly 2 years just to make a point?

When I was on mat leave the first time I would probably have struggled as we were beyond skint.

By all means ask them for evidence of this, but basically, yes you do have to.

Thanks all. I know its not mine to keep but still frustrating to be asked 5 months later!!

I was overpaid and it took them a year to ask for it back - possibly to do with end of year accounts or similar. I was a student so only had to pay in instalments - this was with some advice from citizens advice at the time as former employer got quite nasty about it

Yes. There are some who believe you don’t have to as it’s the company’s error but you do.
I worked somewhere once where payroll massively dropped the ball and kept paying the salary of someone who’d left. The person kept quiet and it wasn’t noticed for 3 months - so thousands of pounds was paid out in error. The former employee dodged any attempt to reclaim the money and they ended up taking it to court - nightmare!

They need to send you the proof but yes you have to pay it back. Most employers will allow payments in instalments.

This happened to me when I left a job to start a new one. I got paid for the month in full, but the way my notice worked from when I was offered the new post I actually left mid-way through the month. A bit of a cock up on their part, and they obviously didn't realise for a while. I requested that I pay the money back over a period of time and they actually just wrote it off rather than have the faff of setting up a payment plan.

Definitely get your P60 and P45 first before paying anything back and then if you haven’t been working since contact HMRC as you may be entitled to a small tax refund, as tax is calculated for the whole year and if you didn’t work for some time up to 5 April there will be a refund due.

You do have to pay it back, but you’re entitled to ask them to prove it first.

I think in your shoes, if you genuinely didn't realise that they had overpaid you, I'd ignore the first email They don't have any wages to deduct from, after all.

If a second email arrives, I'd say that:
(a) In paying you the money, they lead you to believe that it was rightfully yours;
(b) You didn't claim the money, you had it paid to you by them;
(c) You changed your position in reliance on the money in good faith and have spent it over time on bills;
(d) They have taken some five months to bring this to your attention;
(e) You are not obliged to repay. If they were to issue proceedings, you would seek to rely on the doctrine of estoppel by way of defence.

For £100, that might get rid of it. Otherwise, I'd try to agree a payment plan.

You do have to pay it back.

But they have to provide you your payslips and p60, so you can confirm this is the case.

Apologies, I managed to read into the OP that you were on your uppers! I've re-read it now and can see that was a huge assumption. If you haven't changed your position in reliance, ignore the above!