Hi, desperatley need some advice. I have been on long term sick and received a letter from my ops manager dated 13th august, received this letter on 20th August stating i had been overpaid for 2 months and the company was going to take this from my sick pay. He said they were going to pay me NIL this month but he had sorted it out that i would get £200 pay!!!

I was not aware that i had been overpaid and genuinely thought what they were paying me must be correct so this came as a blow. I phoned my manager to advise £200 will cause severe hardship and wouldnt even cover my mortgage and that an agreement should be made how much deduction was affordable. I was not disputing repaying it back but at a more affordable level. This was on Friday last week.

Yesterday he finally phoned me back to say i would be getting paid the £200 which has went into my bank today and there would be no negotiation. I emailed him a grieviance letter on Friday for HR before they paid me pointing out that this would put me in debt and cause hardship which he said he didnt receive so i re emailed it yesterday and got confirmation that it was received.

My question is, can they do this and what can i do about it?

Thank you in advance for any responses

Deb x

Hi Deb,

Yes they can make deductions from your wage due to an overpayment, However the deduction can not take you below the min wage threashold. AFAIK there is no onbilgation on the employer to negoiate the deduction however a good employer should

By law, your employer is only entitled to make certain deductions from your pay. They can deduct tax and national insurance (NI) and they can also make other deductions for which they have previously got your written consent or which are allowed in your contract of employment.

However, if there has been a genuine overpayment of your wages, your employer doesn't need your consent to recover this. They can make a deduction from your wages without your agreement. There are some exceptions to this rule and there are special rules about deductions made from shop-worker's pay.

For more information about deductions from wages, including the rules about shop workers pay, see Rights to pay. For more information in England, Wales and Scotland, see also Employer withholds your pay in Employment fact sheets.

If you have had a deduction made from your pay which you do not agree with, for example, one to recover an overpayment of wages, you should seek advice from an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.