Been paid overtime I haven't done

[Walkingdisaster1991]

So basically I've been paid for overtime that I haven't done. I've let my manager know and it turns out they've paid me someone else's money because they have the same name. But it surely goes by payroll number right? Anyway, I'm also on universal credit so obviously it'll get reported to UC that I've earned more so I won't get as much UC which would be fair enough but I haven't earned this money so I'm surely going to have to pay it back to the company 🤔. Now my issue is when I pay it back to the company UC aren't going to know I've had to pay it back so I'll be out of pocket for my companies mistake. I honestly don't know what to do about it at all. Any advice welcome as I'm really stressing about this 😬😬.

This happened to me. They'll ask for it back so keep it aside and don't spend it.

You'll have to contact the universal credit people and ask. I completely see why this is a problem, but speak to them sooner rather than later. I would also email to HR, detailing why it is a problem. If you are left short because of their mistake you need them to compensate you. Especially in these straitened times.

So I've sent a message to universal credit explaining the situation, it won't effect this month's money it'll be next month so that's a whole month for me to be worried about it 😩. But hopefully that'll give it enough time to sort it out 🤞. Just frustrating being put in this situation because the company messed up 🤦🏻‍♀️. Just got a feeling work will make it complicated and offer no actual help to solve an issue they've created. If it does work out that I'm left short I'll definitely try to get them to compensate it.

Just thinking aloud here, but could/would it work if they paid you less next month (so your pay was more like a debit on your pay account, iyswim) rather than you transfer the money back. So there is a paper trail of what's happened. Would you get more UC next month if you've earned less?

It just be horrendously stressful.

I wish that was the case but when I've had time off (which I don't get paid for at all) UC didn't pay anymore to help with what I lost 😕. It's quite tricky to explain but basically what I earn uc don't take too much off, they take most of the money from what my partner earns as he works full time so what I earn is basically is just a top up for us but a top up we rely heavily on 😬 now it's seen that I've earned more this month they'll obviously take more from that as they'll see we don't need as much as they'd normally work out. So I'll lose some UC and I'll have to pay work money back and the following month even if work pay me less to 'take back the over payment' UC won't pay me any more 😕. I'm really sorry if that doesn't make much sense, it's complicated to explain or I'm just making it sound more complicated than necessary 😬