Council staff told to pay back wages

Aug 6 2010 by Craig Robertson, Dumfries Standard Friday

THE COUNCIL’S bungled implementation of a multi-million pound pay deal rumbled on yesterday.

Thirty four staff have now been left with a £32,440 pay-back bill between them – after they were given the wrong wages in the Single Status carve up.

Some employees are having to pay back as much as £2,000.

And cleaning staff have also been left asking what’s happened to their back pay.

The authority’s Single Status deal – which aims to put men and women on a level playing field of pay and conditions – has been fraught with problems since the start of the year.

Officials admitted in June that they were mainly being caused by an attempt to install a new computerised payments system at the same time. As both tasks were so huge, staff have been unable to cope causing the council to pay consultants almost £800,000 for help.

Yesterday, a council spokesman confirmed that some staff would be paying wages back and that some had also been underpaid.

He said: “Thirty four letters relating to overpayments were sent to council staff at the end of July.

“The total value of overpayments is £32,440.

“Underpayments are being dealt with through normal salary payment arrangements in August 2010.

“Currently 30 staff have been underpaid.

“The total value of underpayments is £9,372.”

Some workers are also still due back pay under the Single Status deal.

Cleaning staff contacted the Standard yesterday to say they are owed money which was due in the March wage.

Asked about that, the local authority spokesman said: “All calculations of arrears due have been done individually.

“So, clearly we can’t comment on an unidentified member of staff’s case.

“Any queries from individuals to payroll are logged.

“These are answered as soon as possible but payroll processes must also be maintained.

“In general, cleaners are due a small amount of arrears from the Single Status job evaluation process.

“The calculation is complex because, as a result of the agreement, adjustments to the working week and hours must be taken into account.”