Teachers pay back wages blunder

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Dozens of Fife teachers must pay back up to £6,000 of wages which were wrongly included in their salaries.

An error by Fife Council saw about 60 teachers receive annual increases to which they were not entitled over a three-year period.

The local authority is now planning to recoup the money, which ranges from £1,000 to £6,000, from their wages.

Education officials said they would not start the repayments, to be taken in instalments, until after Christmas.

The error was criticised by a trade union, which described it as a "serious mistake".

We accept that mistakes happen but this is a serious mistake David FarmerEducational Institute of Scotland

The overpayments affect staff whose salaries were frozen under the McCrone agreement.

The majority are secondary school teachers, although some are primary school teachers in promoted posts.

James McKinstry, the council's senior resources manager in education, said the mistake had come to light during a review of their pay records.

"The staff affected will agree with the local authority the timescale for repayment to tie in with their own personal circumstances," he said.

"No-one is being asked to pay back this money in a lump sum.

"The point has to be made that we are not reducing salaries but claiming back overpayment of public funds."

'Very unhappy'

He added that the average repayment was about £3,800, although in a few cases it was £6,000.

David Farmer, publicity officer with the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), said: "We are very unhappy about this and how our members have been treated.

"We accept that mistakes happen but this is a serious mistake.

"The council needs to sit down with our members and talk to them about a system of repayment and coming to individual arrangements so any financial hardship is avoided."