Retired but employer now says I was overpaid

[Wilma55]

I retired from civil service 2 years ago. Yesterday I received a letter saying I'd been overpaid and giving me 21 days to pay up. The reason given was late notification of leaving by line manager. I gave the required 90 days notice and completed all appropriate forms including for pension.

The calculation enclosed is for a whole year and the calculation dated Feb 2018. I retired Dec 2018. The only contact details are for finance to discuss repayment......

Does anyone know what will happen after 21 days if I dont pay. I can pay its £268, but as they previously cocked up my pension which I had to repay, I'm not inclined to pay up without a fight/proper explanation.

What are my options? I am assuming I dont have a choice but to pay it back, irrespective of fault.

Thank you.

The term 'promissory estoppel' comes to mind; but wouldn't you be better off posting in Legal?

If you don't repay they will write again. Eventually they could lodge a claim with the small claims court. It will take quite a long time to reach this stage. Gmt departments are obliged to take action to recover overpayments but there is a balance of cost of chasing an overpayment vs amount of over payment.

If I were you I would start by writing and asking them to explain exactly what the overpayment is I.e. dates, gross amount etc. You can then ascertain whether or not there is merit in their request.

Also ask them how this impacts on the figures on your P45 and P60 as both must be incorrect. For example you may be due a refund of tax, NI and pension contributions. Note: The latter could impact very minutely on your pension. I.e the pensionable earnings used to calculate your pension might reduce by c£20.

Once you have all the details then consider next steps. As a pp mentions estoppel may be relevant, particularly as you gave 90 days notice.

If they can prove to your satisfaction that there actually is a debt (which isn't certain) then you are under no obligation to refund as a lump sum. You can offer to pay back at £2 per month in the grounds that that's what you can afford.

But make them prove it first.