Payback demand for staff in wage blunder

Workers at Staffordshire County Council are being forced to pay back hundreds of pounds after they were overpaid by the authority in a wages blunder.

Some staff at the council may have as much as £150 a month deducted from their wages in order to pay back the money. One worker has told how she discovered that she had been overpaid by £120 a month for seven months – which she must now pay back. The council said the overpayments were caused by errors in the calculations of staff wages.

However, council bosses have been unable to provide figures of how many staff have been affected or how much money was overpaid.

A spokesman for the council said that while overpayments did happen it was a rare problem.

One worker, who didn't want to be named, said: "Apparently they overpaid me by more than £120 a month for seven months.

"Because of overtime and allowances my salary is different every month so it is not as easy as you would think to check you are being paid correctly. Now I have got to have that cash taken off me for the next seven months, which is a huge part of my wage."

She added: "They should get this right first time round. I can't see a private company making this sort of error."

Council spokesman Tom Hobbins said: "Overpayments to county council staff are made occasionally and if this happens they are asked to pay the money back over an agreed period of time – usually over the period the overpayment was accrued.

"All staff are advised on their payslips to check they are being paid the correct amount and to notify human resources if they have any queries.

"Overpayments, where made, are generally due to late notification of information, including date of leaving, changes in hours and where employees have exceeded their annual leave entitlement upon leaving the service.

"When human resources identify an overpayment to an employee, that employee will be contacted to make them aware and to agree the repayment period."