Can work take back my pay?

[laughoutquiet]

Work told me today that they have paid me wrong apparently over the last two months.

My payslips have been difficult to understand with furlough, flexi furlough, holidays and owed hours. I did raise the previous month (as I thought it was not enough) but they said it was right. I got more than I thought this month but by £200-300. They are now saying I owe them £800 and they will take it out my next pay. I earn around £2k a month at the mo. So it's a lot.

Can I demand a payment plan if they have calculated correctly?

I think as a first step you should ask them to go through their calculations to prove that they now have the correct figure, it all sounds a bit uncertain to me.

But yes, section 14 of the Employment Rights Act does enable employers to claim back overpaid wages. There is no limit on what they can claim back, but there is an expectation that the employer is not heavy handed and does not leave the employee in financial difficulties.

I would not got so far as to say you can demand a repayment plan, but I do think you should firmly request one and highlight any financial problems that would result from clawing back all at once.

Thank you @Aprilx that's really helpful.

I've been back and forth with them today but still don't understand (and I think I'm reasonably intelligent). The payroll team have made literally hundreds of mistakes and I think everyone in my team - approx 15 - has had some issue. It doesn't lead to confidence!

As above making sure that the amount is right is the first step.

They are within their rights to claim it back if they have overpaid. However, I think there are rules about them leaving you to struggle financially so usually a payment plan is offered.

Request a payment plan and it shouldn't be an issue, especially as £800 is nearly half your monthly wage you have good grounds for requesting it. I wouldn't, however, go in demanding that they let you do it this way as they are more likely to say no

Yes they can and will take it back from your salary. The £800 will be gross I presume so your tax, national insurance and pension will be adjusted accordingly. I would suggest a reasonable repayment plan to them, such as repaying in as many months as you were overpaid by. For example if you were overpaid over three months, recover it over three months,

Good practise means they should write to you with a proposal before recovering monies owed.

I think you need to ask them to write down exactly what rate you are paid and for what hours ie the basis on which they arrived at their calculations.

This happened to me recently, I will be paying it back over the next couple of years but I had to agree to pay it all back if I leave the company before it is paid back.