Employer undercharged - would estoppal apply here?

[Risotto]

...or estoppel even

Hi, I was hoping for some legal opinions on a situation my wife has found herself in.

tl;dr: Her employer has seemingly failed to deduct the correct amount for their car parking scheme and want £800+ to address the deficit between what my wife has paid and what they claim she should have paid.


Her employer deducts a pretty nominal amount from her gross salary, in return for which, she is allowed to nominate and use one of the employer's car parks. Originally she paid something like £10/month (like I said, nominal fee!) to park in an open car park a long way from her office. Just over two years ago, she changed her nominated car park to a more convenient and more expensive multi-storey one. Incidentally, she also changed her working hours slightly at the same time which may have muddied the waters.

Her payslip simply states 'parking charge' and lists an hourly rate x 37 hrs = £15. Insofar as she thought about it at all, my wife believed this was the weekly charge: £15 gross = roughly £45 net/month which is the fee associated with this car park on the employer's intranet. Each year, she has renewed her pass online, which involves providing her payroll number and explicitly stating which type of pass she requires. These have all been processed by the employer and the pass has continued to allow access throughout.

The employer's payroll dept. have recently contacted her say she has been underpaying and are demanding £800+ which they claim is the difference between what she has paid and what she should have paid.

When she explained she was unaware there was an issue, payroll told her she should have checked:

• her payslip (she checked, it simply states 'parking charge', no location or detail)

• the Ts&Cs of the parking pass scheme (she checked, there is no cost listed)

• what was written on her car parking pass (she checked, it's a white plastic mag-strip card with nothing at all written on it)

• what was written on the confirmation email she received when she renewed each year (she checked, it simply thanks her for the information she provided and states that the pass has been renewed. No mention of the cost or the type of pass.

She is perfectly happy to pay the correct fee in future but the shambolic administration of the scheme, less than transparent charging and accusatory tone of the payroll dept. have left her less inclined to stump up the retrospective charges the employer is seeking to apply.

Where does she stand?

Edited by Risotto on Thursday 27th July 13:41

[Risotto]

Countdown said:

Can I just check - so effectively her monthly payslip said £15 was being deducted (although the Company's Intranet said the charge was £45pcm) and your wife assumed that the payslip meant £15/week?

I'm getting all this second hand from her but I suspect so. The idea that the employer might decide to list weekly charges on her payslip isn't as outlandish as it may sound given that, as a result of her working compressed hours, they have decided to administer her annual leave in minutes.

Countdown said:

ETA - is this NHS or another Public Sector employer by any chance?

Got it in one.

[Risotto]

Thanks for the advice, I shall pass it on.

Incidentally, the employer has reviewed the situation and is now asking for the full amount to be repaid in installments.

[Risotto]

MoggieMinor said:

The collection of an accidental overpayment of wages is one of the circumstances where an employer can make deductions from an employee's pay.

That seems to be true but there's little information around as to whether under-charging on the part of the employer falls into the same category.

In the interests of providing a conclusion for anyone who might be in a similar situation, the employer has announced they're intending to deduct £90 a month until the debt is paid.