GeoffM

My wife was overpaid whilst on maternity leave in the UK and this wasn't discovered until she handed her notice in, from the US (plenty of notice given). Entirely the employer's fault. Her employer, the NHS, is now demanding payment and getting rather aggressive about it - even accusing her of fraud despite their earlier acknowledgement of fault.

I disputed the amount owed and eventually they sent through a breakdown of payments - and the amount owed went from £9k to £3k - though I'm still not convinced. After all, how can tax/pension/NI account for a 65% difference in the figures calculated?

The problem is, we can't afford to pay it all off now anyway. We offered a token payment but they rejected it, saying they'll pass it to their debt collection department "if agreement cannot be reached". Unfortunately they know our US address.

I'm not trying to avoid payment - after all, I've offered some already. I just want them off my backs until we can get some more money together. Anything I can do to protect ourselves from US debt collectors or the like, if they manage to do such a thing? I've read various threads but they relate to loans rather than overpayments.

Cheers.

Bob

They can try and claim it, but if you're unwilling or unable to pay it, there's very little that they can actually do to enforce it...

Though saying that, location might play a part...

GeoffM

Thanks - in what way?

Bob

Your state and their rules for buying/selling of debt.

Sure anyone can try it and plenty of people will buy the debt, but if they haven't done it right, there's nothing but intimidation to get you to pay it up to the new entity :/

GeoffM

Ah, right, bit slow there.

That's what I'm worried about...

Gillymonkey

It's an unfortunate situation but be aware that most employment contracts I've seen in the UK have a clause about overpayment and the employee being liable.

GeoffM

Latest update: letter from NHS includes a vague apology and a comment that it will be passed to their debt collection team. After the above posts, I discovered that the wife was not paid for the final month. I pointed this out to them but that has been ignored, as has the fact that the figures she quoted do not match what was actually paid for several months. She's just repeated the figure from last time which is undeniably wrong. Either that or the payslips are wrong. The problem is how wrong that figure is - I just don't know. Quite frankly I think I should just send an FU letter back and ignore anything else, but there's that nagging debt collection aspect hanging over it all, legal or otherwise.

RICH

Perhaps write that letter, but have a local lawyer send it, edited. It sounds like they screwed up twice, so you might be about even. The problem is it has to work through "the system" before it goes away. Sorry for your troubles.

Weeze

Can you use FOI act to request all documentation to do with it, including full details of their calculation for the overpayment compared to pay slip information? Give them the required days to respond and that all action regarding the debt should be put on hold until response received? The reason I'm wondering about using FOI act is that then they should have more problems ignoring your request.

GeoffM

That's an interesting idea. This is actually the 4th letter they've written, so as they haven't corrected the figures in the previous letter, it could be considered their fourth screw up.

That's also an interesting idea. I don't know whether they would just send the (wrong) figures they sent previously though? But yes it might hold them off for a bit.

Thanks - food for thought.

GeoffM

Just to re-iterate what I said in my OP: I don't dispute that an overpayment has been made; it's just the amount that I disagree with.

Weeze

From my experience with dealing with FOI letters, be very specific. You have to answer questions as long as they don't fall into a restricted category. It's very difficult to be avasive with detailed letters.

GeoffM

I wrote to the CEO of the hospital and was surprised to get an initial response from her [department] within days, initially to say they will look into it. Today I got the full response. It seems they had paid her accrued annual leave and notice period, but hadn't bothered to put it in the spreadsheet they sent us. There were also a number of other minor errors in the calculations which basically means we owe about £165 less than before I wrote the letter (and £6500 less than their first demand). The payroll staff "have been informed of the correct procedures now" - a bollocking I hope. She's also said we can pay back over three years and her employment references will be intact.

At last, 10 months after this ugly situation developed, we have some kind of a resolution.

Weeze

Pleased you got it sorted.