Overpaid maternity leave

[Lola9]

Dear all,
I have a massive problem and I need support/ help and advise.
I went on mat leave the 2nd of Dec 2021 and
I had the baby one week after . I sent numerous emails to payroll talking about my maternity leave and other things.
In July 2022 I had a meeting with my manager to extend my maternity leave that payroll was copied into.
What is my surprise that at the end or my mat leave I got paid ( I was not supposed to) so basically sent an email to payroll requesting to review the payment. ( no answer from payroll)
Long story short payroll never recieved my documents as I was going on mat leave so they pay me my full salary during all this months.
I was not aware as I didn't know how much I was meant to get various reasons , I have never done this before, I removed my pension so I could have more cash, I did extra shifts during my mat leave to get more money and also this was a new possition)
Basically I recieved a letter with a debt of 25.000£ to be paid in one year, from next month! Basically they want me to work during one year without getting paid. I can't afford this, I have a 1yo child, mortgage and bills.
What can I do?
Is there any way I can escape from this ?
I understand was not my money, but I didn't know and I took like decisions based on what I was getting paid at the time.
Also I gor payslips every month and my money was taxed. Now tye company is requesting the total gross money therefore what happens with all the taxes I already paid ?
Im gonna loose my house, my assets and I am afraid of my baby.
Any ideas mamas?

We are not talking about a period of your life that you are bright as the sun. I just had a baby, I couldn't hold my urine or poo for the first 4 months beliveme ..... looking at my payslips was the least of my problems at the time.
I was coming to this place for support or advice not to be told I'm a theft. I never ever wanted to take a money that was not mine. Beliveme if I could have know before I would have solve this issue way before so I'm not in deep shit with a 1 yo baby.

Ok so are you saying you worked extra shifts during your pregnancy to increase you maternity pay.

I'm assuming your maternity pay from the company should be an average of X amount earned over the previous X weeks?

Usually it's 90% of that for so many weeks - and I'd be surprised if it was more than 6 months and then SMP for the remaining week to 39 weeks. Which is about £100 odd per week.

Based on the wage you have stated above there must be a company policy somewhere which stated the maternity rules.

Also if you knew you were overpaid - which you clearly did you shouldn't have spent it, however the situation you are in you need to speak to payroll directly. And as far as I'm aware they can't claim back more than what they actually paid you, your tax and NI would have reduced on maternity.

You need to know what it should have been and what they paid you and you owe the difference.

What a pickle. Best thing to do is to work out what amount you should have got each month. The discrepancies you received.

Then you have this in black and white! Negotiate a realistic payment plan. Get your manager involve!
Be honest... I have a feeling there may be more than missing emails and not paid correct amounts. If you have to pay back £25k on standard 95% maternity package. Are you earning £125k+ a year. Do they mean pay back 5%of 25k??

Did the company not send you a schedule of maternity payments, stating what you would receive each month?

Does your company provide enhanced maternity pay? If not I find it hard to believe that you didn't realise you were being overpaid.

Your best bet is to try and come to an affordable repayment plan.

There is some law that you can't be paid less than minimum wage including deductions. You need to speak to citizens advice and see how much they can legally deduct.

Ask payroll for a statement of what you should have received and what they paid. It is unlikely to be 25k difference but you will need to repay the overpayment in installments.

Thanks for your message. The only coherent and non judgmental message so far. I earn 40k a year.
They are claiming the money back untaxed but I already pay tax for this.
Example a month I earned 2600£ so they are claiming 4000£ (no taxes, also no pension or benefits) this is where I truly don't understand

Speak to them. Tell them you can’t afford it to pay it back over a year.

But the whole thing doesn’t make sense.

If you work for 2 places, how can you not have noticed one was paying you full? The fact that it’s across 2 employers, makes even less sense.

I didn’t even realise you could work somewhere else during mat leave tbh.

What does it say on your wage slips? Surely you must have completed paperwork with payroll to state how long you want off and when to start.

I did similar to you and worked extra shifts during the mat leave calculation period and (after a bloody hard slog) my mat pay isn’t too dissimilar to my normal salary however it’s clearly laid out on my wage slips and maternity pay forecast from HR

I would start by contacting Acas or an Employment solicitor. Then I would want the full break down on what that money is so you can understand taxes etc .
Eventually you will need to negotiate a payback that is fair so I would start with 72 months and set on 60 . With a. Solicitor you might be able to negotiate part if that debt off if they agree it’s partly their fault but this can be a longstanding battle .
In the meanwhile my advice would be if you can find work in another company so they cannot dick your wages directly .

My payment was saying basic pay. Nothing else

Thank you for your message.
I don't know any employment solicitor, recommendations appreciated.
Surprise I work for nhs

I work half of my pregnancy in one place and half in another place. I did an interview and got a possition in a new place, new possition.

No, I wish . I went on mat leave blind without knowing how much I was gonna get

OP, you are never going to convinced anyone that you didn't know. At that level, that just isn't possible. It's so much more than what you would have expected.

You also give mixed messages. You say you contacted them numerous times and also that you put money aside, so you did clearly know. Pay back what you have saved. Contact the tax office about the tax paid. Speak with your payroll manager to work out deductions. It will be less than what they've told you but whatever is correct will have to be paid somehow, you have no excuses not to.

Agree to make deductions from your payslip rather than paying them direct. That will deal with the tax element. When HMRC calculate your tax at the end of the year, if you overpaid tax, you will get a refund.

What’s is your position in the nhs ? I do as diferente roles can offer different supprt , I know the Royal college of nursing offers legal help and support as a example

So are you now working for a third employer? Not either one who paid you during ml? Were you entitled to Occupational Maternity pay or SMP?

Ok if you work for the NHS I'm pretty sure is 6 months full pay, 6 months half pay.

However

If you were new to the NHS during your pregnancy you may not have qualified for any maternity pay from them. Only statutory maternity pay.

You need to check the policy on how many weeks you had to work for the NHS to qualify for maternity pay.

Well that was a bit silly.

But never mind its done now. Ask for a breakdown of how they have calculated the amount owed.

Was this a new employer? Or just a new job for the same trust. Did your employment continue or did you change employers?

Your posts aren’t very clear. Where you working for the same trust through your pregnancy?

Although I’m not sure why I’m still posting as I recommended two organisation who can help and you’ve called that judgemental. People are here are just trying to figure what has happened and how you can start to resolve this mess. No one can wave a magic wand and make this disappear.

Thank you so much for everyone that was nor judgmental . I wish anyone stays in my situation.
Thanks for the real advice and some positives things I get from here.

You need to ask work for the details of how much maternity you should have recieved.
Get your payslips, or request the details of, what you actually recieved. You need to check the 25k is correct.

Then you need plan of howmuch you can realistically pay back each month. Hopefully you have kept some of the overpayment aside, so you can top up your earnings from that. Get them to deduct from your pay, so the tax will correct itself. You will need to ask what happens about NI contributions - that isnt as straight forward to sort.

Deep breaths. Get the information, and work forward.

I'm sorry OP, this sounds very stressful.

You are liable to pay any overpaid mat leave back to your employer but you can negotiate how long you have to pay that back usually.

People are focusing on the wrong thing, it doesn't matter whether you knew or not - there's nothing you can do about that now. In general, moving forward, if you ever get an overpayment, you should immediately put it to one side and flag to the employer.

It was naive of you to think you would get full pay for the entirety of your mat leave.

The tax piece, I suspect you'll need to talk to HMRC. If you paid tax when you shouldn't have, they should be able to advise but I suspect you'll need specialist advice/support as you did technically earn the money (even if that was wrongly provided).

You're asking to almost 'wipe clear' the year you were on mat leave and replace it with what you should have got. You'd have to pay the balance.