Been paid twice this month by error

[babylone]

I have changed jobs at the end of january.
i moved from one NHS trust to another different one.
i received my pay from my current workplace two days ago.
this morning i received exactly the same pay from my previous job!

a part of me wants to let them know they’ve made a mistake and return my (small) salary (AINBU)
another part of me think that perhaps no-one will notice and perhaps i could keep it???? (AIBU)

im thinking if they dont notice this month, they will notice next month and at some pount i will have to return it anyway….

Contact payroll and ask how you can return it. The chances of them not noticing and taking it off you are slim, and even if they don’t you still know and it makes it no better than theft to keep it.

This happened to my friend, NHS , she didn't say anything and when they found out , months later , she was made to feel awful by them .

Of course you need to tell them. Today. Even if the NHS payroll people didn’t notice the tax people will!

Exactly this happened to me when I left a job some 10 years ago. Despite being a lazy and sloppy company to work for, they suddenly became masters at admin when it came to reclaiming! Sent me a load of letters formally asking for it back - and these were all sent "signed for" so they made sure I had received them. No "the dog ate the letter" excuses.

This was 2015 or so, and I imagine these days there would be even more ways in which to get that money back.

Honestly, in short, you won't get to keep it. Believe me, these companies will do absolutely everything they can to get it back and you will be absolutely powerless.

A) it absolutely will be picked up at some point in future and you’ll have to pay it back so don’t spend it
B) it’s public money ffs not some massive corporation with huge profits

I had this happen from civil service - I told my manager but actually payroll spotted it before the very slow comms had moved through HR to the right place to action. Payroll sent me details to repay and I did. About two months after it was paid to me in error.. made a very few pounds interest on it 😀

Well done OP. Apart from anything else it’s public money.

Quite rightly as it is public money.

Calm down all op has already contacted them am sure she was just having a day dream not being that serious…..

No because 'a month in arrears' in the NHS at least means 'at the end of the month worked'. In fact, pay day is (for some trusts at least), the 25th, so you could not turn up that day and leave and you'd owe them up to a week's salary

Why are you even posting this?

You should have immediately notified them of this error and returned the money.
It is dishonest and unprofessional.
Not good you feel the need to question what you do about it . Says a lot about your character.

Rightly so. She was stealing from them and was untrustworthy.

What did your payslip say about the payment ?
It would say accrued annual leave if that’s what it was.

Put it in a savings account and earn some interest on while you wait to give it back

i was over paid by a relatively small amount for a few months in the nhs. my payslips were right but the amount going in my account was wrong. i had substantial funds swirling round my account at that time for divorce settlements and buying a house. lots of big amounts in and out. this was the days before internet banking just monthly statements that i took a quick glance at as it was a hectic and emotional time. when it was discovered i was treat appallingly. a letter out the blue from nhs fraud accusing me of criminal intent, senior manager waiting for me the next day to ‘suspend’ me (i declared myself sick with stress before she could), interviewed by nhs fraud under caution at a police station with a union solicitor supporting me. police couldn’t believe how it was being handled and were very kind, GP wrote on my sick note ‘stress due to employers incompetence’ and so many people came out very vocally in support of me. turned out that when i had changed bank accounts due to the divorce, payroll made an error as i had two part time roles in the trust and had assigned one incorrectly. i was completely exonerated, my union went ballistic at the hearing when the truth came out and i returned to my role absolutely battered and shell shocked a few months later. no apology, no support. i had always agreed to pay it back and agree a payment plan. because senior management had been exposed badly, they wouldn’t accept my very reasonable and proportionate payment plan (union solicitor helped me do it and it would have been paid off quicker than the overpayments were made over) and referred it to a debt collection agency which killed my credit and tipped me over the edge. i got a new job and left.

about the same time a colleague was approached as he had been overpaid for a year, acknowledged he knew and said nothing. he set up a stupid payment plan over years, had no more than a slap on the wrists, was not interviewed under caution, no disciplinary etc etc.
i am a nurse who spoke out about poor standards of care, he is a doctor who was genial and ‘good craic’.
i follow sim nhs pension groups on social media and the regular significant cock ups there with over and under paying of lump sums under quite complicated calculations between different pension types is staggering.
i love the nhs but it’s inefficient and full of incompetents in roles they are not suited for or able to do.
as said before something has gone wrong with your manager not ending your employment on ESR properly or on time or payroll havent processed it properly or in time.
having a half hour ‘dream’ with a windfall must have been nice. just bite the bullet and get in touch to get it paid back.

She did ask quite seriously in my opinion for advice on whether she should keep it. Not our fault she then drip fed that she was "joking".

They will notice. Looks like youve not been finished on first job. Ring them asap.

Check with them. I had something. Similar and actually it was money genuinely owing to me from my previous role, so I got to keep it and got the brownie points for questioning it.

This happened to me-and they DIDN’T notice! I had a real game trying to pay them back as well, was a nightmare. Managed it eventually but I had to really insist that I give them it back. In the end as they wouldn’t give me BACS details, I wrote them a cheque and handed it in. Took them 4 months to cash it as well 🤦🏼‍♀️ This is part of why the NHS is a shit show and in such a mess. No one takes responsibility to see anything through any more.

The big problem is getting through to payroll to get to the right section. You could spend hours doing this and get nowhere.
Email them copying in your manager and then just put the money aside and six months later you might get a response.

They will notice and they will want it back.
You can either be seen in your workplace as the honest person who drew attention to it or the dishonest person who kept quiet.

I got overpayed mat pay by the NHS and I was worried sick about it and returned to work early. I told my line manager and emailed her and payroll, but other than payroll asking me for my payroll number I never heard another word about it. At which point my line manager said there was nothing else I could do and to forget about it.
As long as you tell payroll, it’s their responsibility after that. You can’t draw the money out and force it into their hands.

I genuinely wouldn't notice if I got paid twice! If I did notice I would absolutely tell them - but how could they ever prove if someone did or didn't know they'd been paid too much?

I had this happen years ago. I got double pay one month. I immediately highlighted it to the payroll dept and the woman who spoke to me was unbelievably rude and insisted it was what I should have been paid. I told her repeatedly that no, I am usually paid £2500 a month and this month I have been paid £5000. She got more and more irate, took my details and told me she’d be in touch. That was in 2018 and no one has contacted me about it since. I still have the £2500 in my savings account waiting for the day they realise they double paid me. OP, you need to make them aware you’ve been overpaid and don’t be tempted to spend it.

Ffs. Why are you even pondering this.