Over 140 senior NHS staff were overpaid due to a finance error and are now being told that the money will be reclaimed from their salary.
According to NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP) 143 staff have been affected. It appears that the error applies to people in pay band 8a and above meaning that everyone impacted will be earing over £48,526 though possibly quite a lot more.
The overpayments have been going on since April 2021 meaning in some cases staff will have move than two years worth of overpayment to pay back. The total value to be recovered is £186,000 meaning on average each person needs to repay £1,300. However there have been reports of some people having to repay over £7,000.
A spokesman for NWSSP said: "When applying the recent pay uplifts NWSSP have identified that a total of 143 out of the 115,000 staff across NHS Wales have had an element of their previous pay uplift incorrectly applied. All staff concerned have been contacted by their Health body. NWSSP has apologised for any issues caused as a result of the payroll error and is working directly with NHS organisations to recover any overpayments with the staff involved."
Betsi Cadwaladr Health board makes up almost half of the staff who have been overpaid though it is worth noting it is Wales' largest health board.
Jason Brannan, deputy director of people, workforce and organisational development at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said: “We were notified by North Wales Shared Services Partnership that there had been a payroll issue resulting in a small number of our staff being overpaid.
“This was a national issue and has affected about 70 members of our staff, which is less than one per cent of the overall workforce, at Band 8a and above dating back to April 2021. We have contacted those staff affected directly to apologise and explain the issue, as well as talking them through their options. Work has already been carried out to ensure staff receive the correct payment from this month.”
Conservative for Ynys Mon Virginia Crosbie said this would have "consquences" for hard working staff. She told WalesOnline: "There seems to be a daily catalogue of catastrophes and mismanagement that is having profound consequences for patients and now hard-working staff. My heart goes out to all those staff who have been overpaid and now face finding cash to repay when times are hard.
"It is not their fault this has happened because often the monthly amount was so small it was not queried but, over time, it has led to big sums needing to be repaid. I had one constituent come to me distraught because they are having to repay over £7000. What is going on at the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and how it is being handled by Welsh Government is starting to look like a national scandal and when I say national, I mean UK."
