Been overpaid by a whole month's wages, now what?

[Toli]

I have gotten a month's full wages on unpaid maternity leave. My account was in overdraft so not even the full amount is there. I called my boss the day it happened (two weeks ago now) and they said they'd sort it. Got an email yesterday saying I have to call HR myself. I don't understand this as I thought they'd be pretty keen to get it back and at least email me but I've heard nothing and now I don't even have all of the money. Also means our UC is messed up for next month despite me calling them and explaining. Any advice?

Keep.it desperate, likely they will get round to requesting it back.

It's a mistake of fact so they can request funds back (aware you're not disputing this) however as their mistake you can arrange a repayment plan.

Irrelevant what their internal procedures might say eg 25% each month, they are obliged to accept any reasonable offer within your circumstances, so, if you do end up having to chop at it they can't demand full immediate refund as their error.

Email he and keep scoot to prove you have attempted to redress, and ensure they are waiting for it be returned and not intending to reduce next month's salarypayment.

Desperate - likely

Keep scoot - keep a copy

Doh!

I had this and they have never asked for it back. If they do, you can pay £10 a week for the next X years, for example.

But it's not like I can pretend I didn't know as I addressed it straight away, so they 100% know that it's happened. That's why I'm scared to use it, although we could really do with it right now.

Exactly the same thing happened to me. I had to call myself because I had to arrange to repay the money via bank transfer.

Similar thing happened to me, they will deduct it from your next wages. You will have to agree an amount each month with HR

There’s no reason they need to agree a payment plan. The mistake was spotted by you straight away therefore there’s no reason for you to have spent the money. Either they’ll give you some account details to transfer it to, or, more likely, they’ll just deduct it straight back from your next wages.

”That's why I'm scared to use it.”

Well yes obviously don’t use it! Why would you when you know it’s not yours?!

@flowery I'm not going to, unless they say they're going to deduct my first month's wages once I'm back. But my problem is some of it has been eaten by my overdraft.

AND I'm a bit annoyed because now our UC will be deducted by about £200 and I can't afford that- I've rang them and they basically said not their problem, nothing they can do.

This is why you have to call HR, to talk about the overdraft, the UC fuckup, and how to pay it back. There's no question you will have to! But since they've screwed UC for you, they really should be decent about it and ideally cover any shortfall for that.

Have the details ready for the call.

@SpoonBlender thank you, that's helpful, what should I say re UC?

For the UC, have the evidence that the mispayment of wages has caused the deduction to hand - they'll no doubt need a copy of that if they're going to cover it. Hope it all goes well!