Council staff leavers overpaid £480k over 5 years

Staff were overpaid when they left the council

A quirky accounting rule has meant some staff at a central London council were overpaid £480,000 over five years.

Westminster City Council said it was still waiting on £99,000 to be returned, but has recovered most of the overpayments, according to responses to Freedom of Information requests by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

The council said the majority of overpayments occur when an employee leaves after the payroll cut-off date.

A spokesperson said the council "makes a considerable effort to recover any overpayment which is not returned straight away".

The council said its outsourced payroll provider calculates any overpayment and prepares an invoice along with an overpayment letter, which is issued to the former employee.

The council said the payroll services follows up with ex-employees up to three times and if there is no response or repayment the council tries to recover the money directly and passes the issue to a debt recovery agency.

The council spokesperson said: "Occasional overpayment is almost always due to staff leaving, changing role, or working hours mid-month and is common in large organisations with monthly a pay roll.

"The vast majority of this money is recouped immediately and the council makes a considerable effort to recover any overpayment which is not returned straight away."

The department to receive the highest overpayment was housing and commercial partnership, with £91,000 accidentally paid out, the LDRS said.

In second was children's services with £86,000, followed by regeneration, economy and planning in third with £76,517.