Childcare Vouchers Payment Error!

A question about : Childcare Vouchers Payment Error!

Hi, new to the forum with a question I need some help with - any advice welcomed!

My wife and I claim childcare vouchers through salary sacrifice. We're both teachers and my wife was previously paid by the Local Authority (Warwickshire) until August 2013 when she moved to another school.

It turns out that payroll somehow paid the Voucher Company Ј243 in September 2013 - which was after my wife left their employment. This money was paid directly to the voucher company - it's not something we ever had - and my wife wasn't paid a salary by them that month (as you would expect!)

A couple of weeks ago we got a letter from them demanding my wife to return the Ј243 to them that they overpaid her.

My question is this - can they do this? As I already mentioned, the money didn't go to us, it was sent to the company (Computer Share Voucher Services) who provide the salary sacrifice scheme for Warwickshire County Council and transfer the payments directly to the childcare provider. The money was never in our possession and the fault is clearly with Warwickshire.

Shouldn't they be chasing the company who they paid the vouchers to, not us?

Thanks in anticipation!

Best answers:

• Did the voucher company use the money to pay your childcare provider or are you saying it was paid to the company but was never in your childcare account?
  IQ
• If they paid the money directly to the provider, then I would think they need to claim it back from them. However, it could be more complicated because your account with your childcare provider could now be in credit for this amount. I think you need to check this with your childcare provider because it could be that although you might have to pay back her previous employer, you will have a period of time where you don't owe your childcare provider anything, until this Ј243 is used up.
• Thanks for the replies!
  The money was paid from the voucher company to the child care provider as it was set up to automatically make the same payment on a monthly basis. So when money arrived from Warwickshire County Council, it was just paid to the childcare provider as per the instruction.
  Our balance is level with the nursery, as there was a month when voucher payments didn't go through from the new employer when my wife changed jobs (due to a delay with setting the account up). Unfortunately, we didn't even realise this until recent investigation (subsequent to WCC asking for money back) as the nursery don't always provide an invoice each month, or at least it doesn't always get passed on to us. This extra payment countered the "missing" month from my wife's employer, so the nursery never queried us being short on the account, as we weren't.
  I just don't understand how we can be liable to repay this - the money never came to us! They might as well be asking anyone on their payroll to repay it...
• Why do you think it need to be paid directly to you for you to have benefited from money that you were due? It doesn't matter whether it was paid to you or not, in the end, they paid money for your benefit that you were not entitled to, regardless the method of payment.
• I take what's being said, however we only benefitted by accident. If the voucher payment had been set up in time then the only person who benefitted would have been the nursery who would have had an extra Ј243. It is only by chance they don't.
  If the payment hadn't been made automatically by the voucher company and we had paid the missing sum (which we didn't even know about) should we still be liable for it's return?
• Don't see the problem. The nursery got the money so you got the benefit from it so just pay it. You would otherwie have had to pay that Ј243 direct to the nursery wouldn't you to cover the deficit?
• It sounds like you thought you got away with one month's payment and as it's been caught, you are now trying to find justification why because it is not your fault, you should be entitled to it.
  However you put it, the company paid when they didn't need to and therefore are entitled to get the money back.
• 1) The nursery hasn't been overpaid.
  2) Your wife's new employer hadn't set up the payment. In effect, you'd be in arrears with your child care provider.
  3) WCC made the payment on your behalf - (call it a loan) and you owe it to them.
• You owe the money whether it be to the nursery or the previous employer, so does it really matter who you pay it to?
• It's not your money. Pay it back.
• I really don't understand why you'd expect your wife's previous employer to reclaim from the voucher company who would then reclaim from the nursery who would then reclaim from your wife.
  Just pay it to WCC because not doing so, is unreasonable.
• So how do you suggest they properly correct the problem? Either way, you will be Ј243 worse off, so does it matter?