New to Forum Urgent Advice - NHS Overpayment

[omar1981]

Hi,
I have been working for the NHS since 2011. I came of maternity leave in January 2014, having change job role to a more senior role, but working 3 days a week. It came to light in Aug 2014 that I had been paid full time hours.
In the period between Dec 2013 and Jan 2014 I correct errors on internal change forms, my contracted hours and the electronic rostering system which showed full time hours. I felt by bringing these errors on their part to the manager attention it was corrected as new change forms and contract had correct hours and the electronic rostering system showed correct hours.
However in this period it did not occur to me to check my payslips specifically because of this - I normally do occasionally and my other half looks after the bank/finances. In this period I was adjusting to working and being a mum to 2 children so soon forgot about those issues.
Now they want to discipline me with a possible dismissal as they believe I should have known I was being paid full time hours, despite actually not knowing and correcting mistake which I had brought to the managers attention.
The money which amounted to 4,500 net over 7 months. It was paid back in full in November as agreed.
I feel this is grossly unfair, I accept in hind-sight I should of checked my payslip properly.

I want to know where I stand and if I have any recourse if the decision is to dismiss me.

Is this really a fair course of action

Happy to answer any questions or provide further info if required.

Thank you very much.

[teaboy2]

Re: New to Forum Urgent Advice - NHS Overpayment

No its not fair as your being disciplined for an error that was not yours, plus you did in fact bring the matter to the attention of your manager and it was corrected on the system to show your correct hours, however they continued to pay you the wrong hours despite the hours being corrected on the rostering system - Therefore the Payroll department system must have been separate from the rostering one, and they therefore were not told by your manager of your new hours or if they were, they didn't update the payroll system with your new hours.

Simply put in a Formal Grievance outlining that its unfair to discipline you when you had notified the manager about the wrong hours being on the Rostering System. It is also unfair to discipline you for what is in fact a failure of either their own automated/semi-automated or manual electronic systems or that of an error made by a member of the payroll department, or indeed a lack of communication between your manager and the payroll department.

It is not for you to check your payslips to ensure you have been paid correctly (there is no legal obligation for you to do so), its is for themselves to ensure they follow correct procedures to prevent people being paid more than they should be.

Explain the situation and the mitigating circumstances to them as you have above. You were just as unaware of the fact you were being overpaid as they were, but the negligence lies with them, not with yourself, as it was through no error on your part that their systems or someone employed by them was over paying you - They promoted you, they should have ensured all the changes made to your hours and pay were properly updated on their systems to prevent such over payments - Therefore the fault lies with them, and any dismissal would be unfair dismissal.