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?

Thank you. You are very sweet and you make me feel slightly better

Thank you. You are very sweet and you make me feel slightly better

We all make mistake , there is a solution hun . Try and sort it aspa but also try not to overworry ( I know easily said ) . It will be ok . Just do not compromise to pay more than you can when you are negotiating . Good luck

Get all of your facts in order:

What you were entitled to receive
What you received
Amount you should pay back

It is up to payroll to square up the tax payments.

Speak to ACAS, your line manager, payroll, HR and possibly HMRC.

If you received full pay for the entire time, instead of 90% for 6 weeks then £156 per week for 33 weeks. - very approximately this is £9,500 gross (assuming your maternity package is statutory). If they continued to pay your your full gross salary of £40K then they have indeed overpaid you quite significantly.

How much did you put aside?

If you do indeed have to repay this, it is best done as a payroll deduction (in my opinion) - I think you should make them an offer and tell them how much you want to deduct every month - could you propose something like £500 per month and pay it back over 4 years?

It is a really terrifying place to be.. you have my sympathy. Do you have a partner? Family who could help? You mention your house and assets - could you take out some equity on your house and add it to your mortgage - or is your house rented?

Assuming that you were supposed to have 6 weeks on 90% then 33 weeks at £156 and the remaining 13 unpaid - how were you going to fund that? Effectively, you have to fund that - but while working (and possibly also paying childcare... )

I am so so sorry for you that you are in this situation.

The gross pay is what the employer paid out. When they retrieve the gross pay, you or they will need to chase the tax deductions from HMRC (revenue) which will then be returned to you.

It's difficult to understand your posts as I am presuming that English is not your first language. I'm not sure what you mean about pension payments. I'm also not sure whether you are now with a new employer.

Could you clarify?

As another poster has pointed out, the fact that you emailed them to highlight the overpayment (or at least to question it), goes against you as it proves that you DID in fact know that you were being overpaid.

Do you have a copy of your contract?
Do you have all your wage slips?
Do you have a copy of the explanation of the overpayment?
Do you have an amount that the company wishes to retrieve per month?
Can you explain in real terms whether the 40k is from your employer who overpaid you?
Can you clarify whether you worked extra shifts while on maternity leave or prior to maternity leave and was that with the employer who overpaid you?

I was overpaid at work because I reduced my hours by half. It took payroll 8 months to update the system.

Every month I put the extra pay to one side as they insisted they didn't want it back yet. When they finally sorted it they asked for all the money back Inc tax and ni. Obviously I didn't have that, I said ask hmrc for the tax because I haven't bloody got it.

Anyway, very long story short. I have to pay the gross back out my salary as a deduction which reduces the amount of tax that I pay each month from my curent salary. I owed 4 thousand but pay back 50 a month as that is all I can afford, even then I can't afford it but not much I can do. It still doesn't make sense to me but apparently will balance out.

39 weeks of SMP is approx £5,500. you'll still be entitled to that amount for the time off, is you were eligible for SMP in the first place - the change is employers makes it trickier, but it is still quite straightforward.

you need a meeting with HR and payroll, you need to find out how much you should have received, and if you were eligible for any of their enhanced pay, and then how much they require back from you. Yes the Gross amount is correct as they'll reverse your pay and confirm to HMRC you weren't actually paid that amount, this will correct your taxes also.

How is your employers Maternity policy not simple? Is it because you started there part way through the pregnancy?

How did you magically know which weeks in which to do overtime? 🤔

Oh OP I feel for you. I got slapped with a 5k 'overpayment' on tax credits (genuinely not my fault) and something that I now HAVE to pay back but I agreed the lowest possible re-payment back until I can get some supporting documents to prove that they made a mistake as I should have been getting tax credits when they claimed I had moved to higher paying role. Unfortunately, you will have to re-pay back but try and pay what is affordable to you. I have just finished my mat leave so I can sympathise that it's tough but hang in there, and make it on YOUR terms.

Benefits are usually spelled out at interview stage or in your "Welcome to your new fabulous employer" pack.

Maternity leave pay is usually a selling point in recruitment. Some pay full, some pay statutory only, some pay 70%, some pay 90%, some pay a certain percentage for a certain amount of time and 50% for any further time etc.

You say you put it aside but you also say that you spent it on 'living'.

You're not really coming across as entirely honest about this.

Thanks for your help.

My concern is that you were not entitled to maternity pay at all and should have claimed maternity allowance directly from the government. If you changed employer which week did you change?

I was overpaid during my first pregnancy. I put it aside and didn't spend any of it. Completely my company's fault as they put me on the wrong pay code.

It took bloody ages to sort out as finance wanted me to pay back the gross amount - which I obviously didn't have - then they would pay the appropriate net payments back. (Big corporate company, finance based in India, the people I was dealing with didn't have the authority to change process). I told them this was unacceptable and would not be paying back the money on those terms.

Fortunately I had a really good HR Manager who knew this was a ridiculous idea. It dragged on and on (over a year) I agreed to pay the net money back although they didn't have a clue how much I owed so I think I ended a grand up.

Basically come to an agreement of how much to pay back and the instalments and make sure you are paying back net wage not gross

8 weeks' full pay, less any Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) or Maternity Allowance (MA) 18 weeks' half pay plus any SMP or MA (providing the total does not exceed full pay) 13 weeks.

This is NHS maternity leave pay. Unless you've asked for the pay to be divided equally over 6 or 9 months

I remember being given a break down by payroll what I was going to get before tax.
(NHS)

The fact of the matter is this: you signed a legal contract which will have outlined all maternity pay terms. You signed it to say that you understood it. Therefore, you have no leg to stand on with regards to pretending that you didn't know that you were being overpaid. You signed a contract; you should have read it before signing.

Most employers will outline their terms at second interview stage, Maternity Pay entitlement is a clause in your contract, which the OP will have signed and an explanation of it is also normally included at your Induction day/week etc.

There is no way that the OP innocently didn't know that she was being overpaid. Not with an employer like the NHS.

OP. I'd request a reasonable amount to pay back. I'd also meet with the employer to discuss how best to reclaim the tax on the gross pay that you'll be paying back.

I have noticed that women of child-bearing age are always told about the terms of Maternity pay as if they really want you and their MP is lucrative, it's a selling point to recruit you.

If it’s NHS employers it doesn’t matter. It’s all relevant service.

You should be able to claim the tax back. I do t think you can claim any National Insurance payments back.

You/ your employer can contact HMRC about the extra tax you have paid, they should refund it once they know about the error and that you are paying it back.

Hey OP!

Okay so I work for the NHS and am currently on mat leave.

My understanding is that we get 8 weeks full pay, 18 weeks half pay plus SMP, 13 weeks SMP and 13 unpaid.

I chose to spread my payments over the 12 months. Sounds like you did too?

I've also had issues with payroll throughout my whole time with my Trust (one month the bastards just forgot to pay me, and had the cheek to ask whether I could wait till next month! Apparently my mortgage fairy pays my mortgage...)

I asked for a pay projection multiple times and was fobbed off each time. When they eventually sent me my projections they also didn't stipulate that what they had projected was GROSS not NET pay. So the first month I was £300 down. When I queried, only then did they explain the above. A bit like you, first baby, trying desperately to budget, I was devastated that it hadn't been made clearer to me. Turns out they don't made deductions because they can't predict them.

If they'd looked a bit closer they would've seen that I am salaried, don't do shifts, work 8-4 five days a week. Didn't think it would be that hard seeing as they caveat everything with 'this is an ESTIMATE'. Now I appreciate an estimate may be a few quid different, not £300.

Anyway, as it was, I've had to cancel my pension for a year so I can recover that money.

Before a career break with the same Trust, my manager forgot to tell them I was on a career break. They overpaid me 2 months wages and when I tried to send it back, they said to wait because they needed to check shift allowances. They eventually accepted the money 4 months later, and then started to try and sting me for pension/tax (£200). I never got to the bottom of it but argued the toss and eventually they dropped it.

However, that is an awful lot of money to have to pay back. I can understand the confusion but ideally you should've queried it when months down the line you were still receiving full pay.

Payroll in the NHS are renowned to be shit. I've had issues in all three trusts I've worked for. They can't leave you in hardship though, I would suggest contacting them as they will be able to sort out a more affordable payment plan.

My friend had her student loan refunded multiple times which wasn't explained to her (long and involved story) so they let her pay the overpayment back in manageable installments over 18 months.

We have this happen quite regularly unfortunately when we dont receive paperwork. The reason that its gross as it is last finanical year overpayment. They will need to report this to HMRC and you will be able to get any refund directly from them.
Normally a reasonable repayment plan is agreed so that it doesn't put you in financial hardship, payroll are not monsters.

Haven't read your whole post but have to disagree wholeheartedly with Payroll in the NHS are renowned to be shit. Payroll can only work with the information provided by HR which is often lacking.

Are you with a union? Call citizens advice / ACAS.