South Tees Hospitals staff go unpaid after payroll error

The trust said it would honour bank charges caused by the delay

Thousands of staff at an NHS trust in the north-east of England have not been paid because of a payroll error.

The 8,500 staff at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust were due to be paid on Friday, but salaries will now go into their accounts on Monday.

The trust said it was due to "human error" and it would honour any bank charges caused by the delay.

One affected nurse told the BBC she had spent two hours rearranging standing orders and direct debits.

She said: "It's a total domino effect. If I don't get paid till Monday then everything gets paid late."

'Real hardship'

She said a number of friends who had plans for the weekend would be affected because they had not been paid, and others were having to use their credit cards for items like children's school shoes.

"It's a bad time to happen with anyone with kids. I've completely outdone myself this month on summer holiday trips," she said.

The trust is the largest in the Tees Valley and runs the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, and the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, as well as a number of community hospitals.

In a statement it said: "The finance team is contacting all the main banks to explain our error and ask them to honour the routine transactions of staff accounts and where possible, waive any charges. However, if staff incur bank charges as a result of this delay the trust will honour them.

"The board of directors understands that this delay may cause real hardship to a number of staff.

"Staff in extreme difficulty should contact their banks first but the trust is also looking at ways it could help those staff in difficulty over the weekend who have not had a favourable response from their banks."