First of all thank you for your reply. At the moment they have not mentioned any court action. We are only still receiving the letters from the debt collectors. The latest correspondence we received from the HR ( a month ago) is that they have concluded their investigation and that they expect the payment of £525 (approximate as I do not have the paperwork with me at the moment). They also stated that: "The post to which you were appointed is graded at BR6, points 17 to 21; you started on point 20 and the full time equivalent for this was £21153. You were employed to work 35 hours per week for 39 weeks per year so the pro rata salary was £17616". Another thing they mentioned was: "I have clarified the appointment details with your Manager and asked him what salary was offered and as far as he’s aware it would have been the pro rata salary that was confirmed to you and stated in the contract your received." The last quote is quite interesting as my husband only received his contract 2 weeks after his resignation. As my husband was reluctant to hand in his notice at his permanent job (where he worked for 5 years and walked to work for 30min) without a written job offer (for a new job where he would have to commute for 1.5hrs), the manager sent him an email stating: Please accept this email as a contract of employment. The details agreed are as follows; One week placement with PPA at X from 19th to 23rd of October 2015 at agreed daily rate One year FT fixed contract with potential of permanent FT contract to follow from 26th Oct 2015 Rate of pay £21k Main correspondences we have are the email exchanges between my husband and his manager. He never received his contract or any such paperwork describing the conditions of employment. Nothing was ever signed. We just want the harassment to stop and to resolve the issue once and for all. If we are in the right, what can we put in the letter to the HR? Or should we just wait till they threaten us with court action? Basically the issue is that the manager said he would be paid till the end of the month as he was, but now he changed his story and they want half of the month's salary back. We do not have that money anymore as we have used it in the purchase of our property. Do we ignore the issue or confront them with a stern letter?

They and the HR are saying he was overpayed because he worked there for 2 weeks and got a whole month salary. They said they never got his notice in on time in order to stop the payment. We never questioned it as the manager told him that he will be paid till the end of the month if he left quietly.

Hi all, I'd appreciate if someone could advise me on what to do?! My husband was headhunted by an agency for a job in a school in X. He had a permanent 5 year job near where we lived and his salary was 17k pa. He was offered 21k to work in this school, both the manager in the school and the woman in the agency sent him emails after his interview confirming the job offer of 21k fixed term contract for 1 year with the possibility of extension. He accepted the job and started working there first week of November 2015. Two weeks later he was called in his manager's office and was told that if he left quietly he will be paid till the end of the month and will be provided with references. Obviously he was very distraught and sent his resignation letter the following week. A week after resigning he received his payslip and contract from X council to sign. The payslip and contract showed his annual salary at 17k! It is then we realized that he was pushed out because the school realized they could not pay him the salary he was offered. In March we received a letter from debt collectors for salary overpayment. It was annoying because the X council did not even call or write to us beforehand. My husband contacted the HR office and told them what had happened between him and the school. After 'investigating' for 2 weeks the HR wrote back saying surprise surprise that the manager of the school never said he would pay him till the end of the month and since the contract offered was 21k fixed term it meant 21k pro rata which equates 17k pa. First of all, if my husband was offered 21k pro rata he would have never taken it. Secondly, in any of the correspondences was 'pro rata' mentioned. I have called numerous solicitors just to ask for an advice and none want to give me advice because they don't want to take the case. We just want to know whether we should send a letter back to HR quoting different legal sources. If I am not mistaken this can come under estoppel? Or we should just pay them since we cant afford being taken to court. But we don't want to pay because of the principle and because of what had happened. Any advice is appreciated.