Highland Council ‘intimidated’ former staff after they were paid despite leaving, they claim
Two former Highland Council staff who were overpaid for months have spoken out for the first time about the ordeal and “intimidation” they were subjected to so the local authority could regain the lost money.
In February, we revealed how the council made 602 over-payments to 593 individuals after they left the organisation costing £863,000 because the local authority was not checking “to confirm the existence of its staff”.
One individual was paid for 33 months receiving £42,272 net – a situation described by regional MSP Edward Mountain as “beyond belief”.
But the publication of a new report ahead of a council meeting this week has revealed the overall figure has been reduced to £614,092, of which 25 per cent has been returned so far (£153,523).
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The council’s pay and HR transactions manager Angela Mackenzie and its head of people Elaine Barrie stated in the report: “The overpayment figure of £863,436.08 (2022/23) reported in June was a gross figure. Further analysis has determined the actual net overpayment figure is £614,092.53.”
Strathspey resident Iain Jamieson spent years filling out time sheets to get paid only to be told to attend a meeting at the council and be interviewed “under caution”.
“The whole situation is beyond belief, Highland Council have made things worse the more they went on as if overpaying ex-employees wasn’t bad enough,” he said.
“I feel that the letters demanding payment were intended to intimidate me into paying back more than I can afford, as though it were somehow my fault while ignoring that this stems from their own, really basic mistake.
“I gave notice to my supervisor in July 2023 that I would be leaving the council, this was done by text, email and verbally. My last day was on August 18 and I received my supposed final pay on September 14.
“I started work with my current employer on August 29 and they must have gotten some details from the council. Then on October 13 I wrongly received a further payment.
“So I contacted the payroll department straight away and informed them of their error, which they apologised for and they told me ‘we’ll get that sorted’ but they didn’t - they continued paying me each month until the final payment on March 14.”
In fact it took the intervention of HMRC to get the council to stop paying him but by that time, he said, the additional payments from the council as well as the normal wage from his current employer pushed him into a higher tax bracket.
“Then on September 2, I received an email regarding ‘Overpayment of Salary’,” Mr Jamieson said. “I contacted the council again and informed them that I had spent the money but was prepared to make monthly payments of £50, which is actually more than I can afford. I was told ‘that was unacceptable’.
“And on September 16, I got a letter from HMRC informing me my tax code had eventually been corrected. I had been paying more tax than I should have been due to the council's errors.”
He continued: “On October 4, I received a letter informing me that I was to be interviewed ‘under caution’ about the overpayment of monies. I found this letter and its accompanying leaflet to be very worrying and written in a threatening manner.
“This letter is very personal and as it says on it Private and Confidential. So why was it not sent by recorded delivery? And how did the council, who employed me for several years - and has all my details in multiple places including payroll, council tax, I rent a house from Albyn and am on the electoral register - manage to send this very important and sensitive letter to the wrong address?
“It’s more evidence of the Highland Council's incompetence.”
The second member of staff who we spoke to on condition of anonymity said they were subjected to behaviour that was rude, demanding, condescending and intimidating.
“I left in March and I was paid for March but I was not sure what the entire contents of that pay cheque was but then I was fully paid again in April so I knew there was a problem,” they said.
“So I wrote to the council and told them and I then received a letter saying that I had been overpaid and they wanted the money back but there was no amount on it, so at this point I was still not sure what I was to pay back.
“So I queried their mistake and offered to return to work for the outstanding amount because I wasn’t working and this was refused – I know that sounds a bit ridiculous but I thought I could work it back.
“And then decided to complain higher up and I wrote an email to a senior officer and she was quite rude, she was quite demanding saying things like repayment was to be immediate, it wasn’t my money, it wasn’t mine to spend.
“She would email at 5pm on a Friday night, which is quite common for people to do when they want you to be unsettled over the weekend, so I felt she was quite condescending and intimidating.”
In February 2024, they received an invoice for £2500 from a debt collector on behalf of the council, adding: “I couldn’t believe it. The invoice even said they wanted my Covid bonus payment for working through the pandemic - there was no breakdown, no nothing so they put it on hold, so I was given time to get back to payroll.”
Mr Mountain said: “If the council have made a mistake - which it appears they have - their approach to recovering money should be contrite and non-bullying.
“What appears to be a high-handed approach by the council, albeit legal, does little to resolve the issue. In fact, it probably pours oil on troubled waters.
“I suggest the council treat others as they would like to be treated themselves.”
A council spokesperson said: “The council do not comment on individual staffing matters. We do seek to recover any overpayments and engagement takes place with the individuals concerned to recover the sums due, including putting a recovery plan in place.
“A report is being presented to the audit committee on November 28 on payroll overpayments including progress being made in administration and collection.”
