Overpaid maternity leave

[juliejuliejuliejulie2013]

Does anyone have any knowledge/advice on being paid throughout their maternity leave. I've been paid for 6 months more than I was entitled to and I'm now facing both being made redundant and owing them lots of money. Is there any law protecting employees from when the company makes mistakes like that?
I'm all ears. Thank you

Is this enhanced maternity pay that you are entitled to if you go back to work, or literally a mistake they've made and money you never should have had?

It is money I should never have had. I'm wondering legally what that means? They overpaid me for 6 months, last payment in August, but only realised last week after they decided to make me redundant. Can I legally keep that money or what is the procedure?
Thank you for help/advice/knowledge.

Did you inform them that they were overpaying you when you realised during your ML?

You have to pay it back. I had a similar situation where I was overpaid once when I went back to work (SMP and normal wages at the same time).

I have to ask, how did you not realise for six months?!?

If you have been overpaid you have to pay it back. Legally it means that you have money to which you are not entitled. There is no law that protects you against the company wanting its money back. You may be able to negotiate with the company about how you pay it back but it doesn't become your money just because they have made a mistake.

You have to pay it back as it's not your money. You say "only realised last week", do you mean they only realised or you hadn't realised either?

Even if you don't look at your own bank account for six months and genuinely hadn't noticed you still need to pay it back. If you knew but didn't say anything hoping they wouldn't notice and intended to keep it that's really not good.

Either way, you need to pay it back. If you didn't notice then presumably you haven't spent it so that's fine. If you have spent it and can't pay it back straightaway expect them to deduct what they can out of your redundancy pay and you can ask for a payment plan to give the rest back.

Just to clarify, did you assume they were paying the right sum but it turns out it was the wrong sum? If yes, and you've spent it in the honest belief it is your money then I don't think it is reasonable to expect you to pay it back. I sat on an audit committee when something similar to what I've just outlined occurred and we took the view that it would be unreasonable to expect an employee to pay the money back.

If, however, we had believed the employee had known they were being paid too much and had kept quiet we would have taken steps to recover the money.

If you do need to pay the money back and you can't afford to do so, you should seek to agree a payment plan.