Thank you all very much for your very usefull replies, it is a bit dissappointing that an employer has the right to with hold 100% of wages but I guess it is what it is. I have spoken to the NMW helpline and they have confirmed that YES an employer can legally do this even if it leaves an employee with nothing as according to them, "it is monies already paid", so they are not really taking anyithgin away but with holding a payment that they have already made!!!!

I have been on maternity leave since 10th nov, had the baby on 13 dec through a complicated c-section that left me ill for quite a while. During this time my husbabnd has been managing the finnances and I did not get a chance to open my dec payslip. On 8th Feb I received an email from work that there has been a payroll error that led to an overpayment of £891 net into my account nad that I should either transfer the funds back or send in a cheque. After checking my account I realised that it was correct but the problem is that the money had been swallowed by overdraft and direct debits at the end of Jan and I did not physically have any money to pay back. On the 9th Feb I replied the email to HRM acknowledging the overpayment and the fact that the money needs to be paid back. I also stated that due to the fact that I'm on SMP of £499 pm I can only afford an installment payback of £100 per month. I did not receive any reply to the email, I have just received an email from HRM stating that they have deducted all they could and there is nothing payable to me this month and and that they will deduct a further £371 from ,y pay nest month as well. Is this legal? I mean can they take 100% of my smp leaving me, my 2yr old and my 2 month old baby with nothing at all due to an incompetence on thier part?