Glasgow City Council workers ordered to repay £40,000 wages error

Workers at Glasgow City Council have been told to pay back £40,000 to the local authority after a payroll error left them unwittingly receiving extra wages for years.

The mistake, which affected five refuse staff, was only discovered following a recent internal audit. It found workers had accidentally been paid extra amounts for contractual overtime on a monthly basis.

Errors in some of the cases are understood to go back up to four years, with one individual earning about £15,000 extra.

The GMB union said the five people involved have been left under pressure about the repayment plan, which will required them to pay £40 to £70 a month.

Staff are now expected to pay between £40 to £70 a month back to the council, a situation union reps have compared unfavourably to senior council staff who negotiated retirement deals for themselves without consulting councillors.

Only one of the senior staff involved in that situation has volunteered to pay money back.

Chris Mitchell, the GMB convenor for Glasgow’s cleansing and refuse workers, told BBC Scotland News the mistake was an honest error by the council’s payroll department, but that it was unfair workers were left facing financial stress because of it.

He said: “If you look at a Glasgow City Council payslip, you’d need to be a lawyer to understand it. If you’re getting contractual overtime payments, then you wouldn’t know it on the payslip unless you were already looking for it, or you checked with your colleagues what they were earning.

“£70 a month is a big deal for a lot of our workers. We’re not earning a lot and this has come right out the blue. It is a lot of pressure on these people.

“It is like a pay cut because you’ve not realised you’re being paid more, and now you’re adjusting your budget to deal with having less money every month.”

Mr Mitchell said he had previously raised problems regarding payments, and was frustrated the payroll system had not been improved.

He added: “I’ve been told they were looking at a more robust policy, but clearly they haven’t actually done that. There have been a lot of cuts at the council and mistakes have been made but it’s low-paid workers that are suffering.”

The Employment Rights Act of 1996 gives employers the right to take deductions from an employee if there has been a mistake resulting in overpayment.

However, any employer – such as the city council – must follow strict protocols, including giving notice of their intention to the affected employee, and drawing up a payment plan if the amount cannot be paid as a lump sum.

Glasgow City Council has faced financial pressure in recent years, with a number of attempts to save money.

A council spokesman said: “We don’t discuss personal matters that relate to individual cases, however, when overpayments come to light, we engage with staff to agree an appropriate and manageable repayment plan.”