Friend was apparently overpaid

[ThisIsNotThePostYourLookingFor]

My friend started a new job a month ago so just received her first proper monthly wage but they are claiming to have paid bet twice. She’s been checking her bank account every 5 minutes but she can only see one payment. They are adamant she received an extra one (totally their fault they have stated) but she says she hasn’t. What can she do? Can they forcefully take money from her account? I’ve told her to speak to ACAS but she won’t hear back for a while and is getting really upset over it

Surely she can just get a statement from the bank confirming only one payment was made by her employer?

She could show them the payment in her account?

Provide proof.
Print screen online banking, go to the bank for a paper copy.

Is she sure the one payment isn't double what it should be? If she is surely she can just provide her employers with her bank statement for this month so they can see it's not there. They wouldn't be able to just take money from her account and would need to recoup next month or set up re-payment plan if they have actually overpaid her.

No, employer cannot take money from her account.

And she does not need to provide them her bank statement to prove only one payment was made - none of their business, why should people in her companies finance office get to see her personal balance/ spend etc.

They need to prove it was paid twice -

I suggested a print out of her statement but as others have said she feels it’s an invasion of her privacy as they could see other transactions.

How would they be able to prove it was paid twice @DogWithMyOwnRoom ?

She can blank out the other transactions , just leave the amounts so they can see anything credited is not from them

She can redact the balance, or whatever she doesn't want them to see.

@ThisIsNotThePostYourLookingFor Not necessarily. Online banking allows you to filter payments based on who they are from. She can make it a 3 month search window and just filter on the employer...

I assume her employer have actually checked their bank accounts and can prove they have 2 transactions going to her account.

Presumably the employer would have evidence of it leaving the company’s bank account twice, if they are claiming it was two payments?

If the employer is claiming it was one payment but for double the amount, then the payslip should show that and it could be compared against the salary in the contract to show whether or not there was a payment error.

I'd actually be asking the employer for proof they've paid it twice as if it's BACS it should be listed on their account and have reference/ transaction numbers

I'd be batting it back to them to be honest

Has she spoken to her bank? I've had this myself, what happened was the bank that the money was coming from flagged it as a double payment of the same amount and stopped the payment in a holding account to check it, I never received it, it appeared to have left the companies account however it was just held by the bank and then returned to the company. Its nothing to worry about, the company can't take from your friends account without permission. The banks will be easily confirm she hasn't received it.

Get the employers to show their bank details to your friend sending it twice, I'm assuming it's on a BACS run with other employees? They can blank out the other transactions.
And no, they wouldn't be able to get this back from her account.
Double check how much they think she should have been paid to how much your friend thinks she should have been paid as well!

I was just about the post what has been said above.

The bank will flag it as a double payment and return it to them. It will be showing on their accounts as having gone out, but will then show as a returned debit and theyll get an email from their bank telling them a duplicate payment was returned but if it was intentional then to call to make the payment again.

Can just blank out other transactions

Apparently it’s for different amounts, very similar but maybe £50 odd off a difference. I’ve had problems myself before not receiving a payment but never heard of someone supposedly being paid twice! Is this a common problem?

I have no idea about how how BACS etc work for employees and she’s not much better. I’ve told her to search for the particular transaction as @Iamnotamermaid has suggested.

Well they cant take money from her bank account but they can certainly deduct the amount they say she has been overpaid by straight from her wages. She does have to agree to this happening but it might already be part of her contract .She should negotiate with HR how the deductions are calculated.
She needs to talk to HR and if they arent helpful maybe she can check with HMRC for what has been reported as paid to her. It should only be one payment per pay period but if there is extra HMRC will want to know whats going on.

provide them with printscreen of online bank statements and contact her bank to make sure they cant just money out of her account

Definitely search for the particular transaction and if she wont do that then she is being suspicious.

Hi OP, we had this with my husband but the other way round- they said they paid him but it never arrived into the account- eventually we had to get the ombudsman involved and ultimately it was a bank problem. So maybe get them to speak to the bank in the first instance with a verification code- once you have this your friend can take it further if need be

She needs to tell them it hasn't been received and ask them to sort it out with their bank - they should be able to trace the payment and see where it actually went

It can happen

Let's say smaller company and salary payments done by faster payment. I'd have to go in and select each employee then add the amount (later on we could use a template)

So quite possible to pay say e smith one amount then misread f smith and select e smith again but use f's amount

But the company can show proof that they sent the payment twice!

No, no, no. THEY need to provide her evidence of the overpayment. SHE doesn't need to do anything until they provide evidence

Thank you everyone for your replies. She’s been really concerned they would forcefully take her wage. I’ve passed on all your suggestions and hopefully she can get clearer answers tomorrow