Help please I have been overpaid.

[Dwinhofficoffi]

I work for my LEA as a learning support.

I am paid by claim, have been since I started working in schools seven years ago. This means my pay goes up and down each month dependant on how many hours I have worked. My pay is effected by holidays as I am on a 42 week contract.

Basically I received a letter saying that an error their end has meant I have been over paid by £782 since February 2013. According to the letter I have been both been receiving a monthly salary and also my claim. I have no clue how or why this has happen.

I have now been told that over the next seven months I will have to pay back the whole amount. Is there anything I can do? I am in a union.

Do you do your own checks each month? Do you agree you've been overpaid or have any evidence to dispute this?

Oh no how awful. If you ascertain whether this is correct - review payslips cross ref with your hours worked etc. if it is right then you probably do need to pay it back but if you can't afford the amount they are proposing they suggest an alternative - a longer period, maybe a reduced amount as a lump sum. Good luck

what you can do depends on whether you agree you have been overpaid - do you?

I will have to trawl through bank statements and get time sheets together etc. I didn't think so obviously.

If you agree you have been overpaid, then it is a question of either rescheduling the repayments OR asking them to write off the overpayments as they were not your fault.

If you don't agree, then it is a question of asking them to produce detailed calculations demonstrating where and how this has occurred.

But you mustn't get the two situations confused. If you talk about it not being your fault and wanting longer to repay, then it detracts from your statement that you don't agree with their calculations.