Expenses advance repayment request

Expenses advance repayment request

Author
Discussion

jpringle819

Original Poster:

725 posts

246 months

Friday 31st March 2023
quotequote all
I have today received an email from my previous employer asking for me to repay a £500 expenses float they advanced me in 2012 by 5pm. I left there over 2 months ago and no mention was made of this at the time, in fact I had forgotten about it after almost 11 years.

The reason for this float was a change in the expenses payment from 2 times a month to combined with pay after a cut off of 3rd of the month to submit. This meant any expenses incurred after the 3rd were paid almost 2 months later in the next payroll.

Anyway crappy expenses policy aside what would you do about repaying it? I cannot afford to pay it today and I am reluctant to do so until I am at least out of my probation period. The company has been bought since the float was paid and a number of years later merged with another company I am a bit surprised this has surfaced now. We are talking about a 500 million turnover size company, I think they is a bit of bad feeling as half the technical team left within a 3 month time frame.

E63eeeeee...

4,554 posts

56 months

Friday 31st March 2023
quotequote all
I guess let them know when you will be able to pay it.

They're presumably trying to tidy it up before the end of the financial year.

jpringle819

Original Poster:

725 posts

246 months

Friday 31st March 2023
quotequote all
E63eeeeee... said:
I guess let them know when you will be able to pay it.

They're presumably trying to tidy it up before the end of the financial year.
It feels like they should have made an effort in the proceeding 11 years to sort out a repayment plan of the float. £4 a month off expenses owed would have paid it off.

I am going to wait for a letter, as I don't think an email saying please find attached a letter is the right way to go about things. Once I receive that I will offer them a chance of a repayment plan and see what they say.

IJWS15

1,937 posts

92 months

Friday 31st March 2023
quotequote all
Are you sure the e-mail is from your past employer?

I would wait for a letter on headed paper.

This is something they should have covered in your final payment.

jpringle819

Original Poster:

725 posts

246 months

Friday 31st March 2023
quotequote all
IJWS15 said:
Are you sure the e-mail is from your past employer
It is as it keep 5 minutes after an ex colleague asked me if it was ok to share my email address with them. I was expecting either a technical question or maybe my P60.

I say ex colleague but he is starting work with me in a week so I cannot hold a grudge.

FiF

45,529 posts

258 months

Friday 31st March 2023
quotequote all
Offer 50p a week, seems to be OK for court fines.

shirt

23,475 posts

208 months

Friday 31st March 2023
quotequote all
40 mins deadline to pay an 11yr old debt? The second word on my reply would be ‘off’.

Not saying you shouldn’t pay it, but I detest when fkups are palmed off to become other people’s problems. Clearly they’re trying to get it covered off by end of the tax year but hardly makes a difference seeing as it’s carried forward this long. Tbh I’m amazed they have to front to even try it.

LordHaveMurci

12,099 posts

176 months

Friday 31st March 2023
quotequote all
Make them an offer, repay half in their chosen timeframe & call it quits.

deckster

9,631 posts

262 months

Friday 31st March 2023
quotequote all
Email you say?

Never got it mate.

jpringle819

Original Poster:

725 posts

246 months

Friday 31st March 2023
quotequote all
LordHaveMurci said:
Make them an offer, repay half in their chosen timeframe & call it quits.
Time frame had already gone by the time I got home from walking the dog. Got the email just after I went out. PDF attached was dated 27th so expecting a letter at some point.

LordHaveMurci

12,099 posts

176 months

Friday 31st March 2023
quotequote all
jpringle819 said:
LordHaveMurci said:
Make them an offer, repay half in their chosen timeframe & call it quits.
Time frame had already gone by the time I got home from walking the dog. Got the email just after I went out. PDF attached was dated 27th so expecting a letter at some point.
Still not too late to make them an offer. Nothing to lose surely?

Terminator X

16,332 posts

211 months

Friday 31st March 2023
quotequote all
Tell them to do one or ignore?

TX.

deckster

9,631 posts

262 months

Saturday 1st April 2023
quotequote all
Just a thought - if you wanted to play hardball, a debt becomes statute barred after six years if they've made no attempt to reclaim it. For such a small sum I can't see it being worth their while to pursue it too hard.


sunbeam alpine

7,079 posts

195 months

Saturday 1st April 2023
quotequote all
[quote=deckster]Just a thought - if you wanted to play hardball, a debt becomes statute barred after six years if they've made no attempt to reclaim it./quote]

Given that the OP left the company 2 months ago - and was therefore within their expenses scheme - I don't see any merit in this argument

deckster

9,631 posts

262 months

Saturday 1st April 2023
quotequote all
sunbeam alpine said:
deckster said:
Just a thought - if you wanted to play hardball, a debt becomes statute barred after six years if they've made no attempt to reclaim it.
Given that the OP left the company 2 months ago - and was therefore within their expenses scheme - I don't see any merit in this argument
I've no idea how well it would stand up in court. But it might make them think twice.

Countdown

42,039 posts

203 months

Sunday 2nd April 2023
quotequote all
jpringle819 said:
I have today received an email from my previous employer asking for me to repay a £500 expenses float they advanced me in 2012 by 5pm. I left there over 2 months ago and no mention was made of this at the time, in fact I had forgotten about it after almost 11 years.

The reason for this float was a change in the expenses payment from 2 times a month to combined with pay after a cut off of 3rd of the month to submit. This meant any expenses incurred after the 3rd were paid almost 2 months later in the next payroll.

Anyway crappy expenses policy aside what would you do about repaying it? I cannot afford to pay it today and I am reluctant to do so until I am at least out of my probation period. The company has been bought since the float was paid and a number of years later merged with another company I am a bit surprised this has surfaced now. We are talking about a 500 million turnover size company, I think they is a bit of bad feeling as half the technical team left within a 3 month time frame.
I'd repay it.

You know that you owe it. It's not really relevant how crappy their expenses policy is or who they've merged with or how many people from the technical team have left.

Countdown

42,039 posts

203 months

Sunday 2nd April 2023
quotequote all
deckster said:
sunbeam alpine said:
deckster said:
Just a thought - if you wanted to play hardball, a debt becomes statute barred after six years if they've made no attempt to reclaim it.
Given that the OP left the company 2 months ago - and was therefore within their expenses scheme - I don't see any merit in this argument
I've no idea how well it would stand up in court. But it might make them think twice.
Why would it make them think twice? if they don't already know it's incorrect they'll google it and find out.

Boosted LS1

21,198 posts

267 months

Sunday 2nd April 2023
quotequote all
If it's a different creditor/company then do you actually owe them anything? You mentioned takeovers etc. I'd be inclined to wait and see what happens and if they ever issue a LBA.

FlyingPanda

454 posts

97 months

Sunday 2nd April 2023
quotequote all
The truth of it will be that the money was advanced to you whilst employed, so it’s not an ‘old debt’ as it only became due when you resigned, so I’d forget that as a defence. If you can’t pay it now, I’d write back explaining that and offering to pay it back over a sensible period (£100 per month or whatever you can afford).

They should really have sorted this out in your final pay run, but then you’d have been in a worse position, so I’d approach it gracefully and see what happens.


Sheepshanks

35,033 posts

126 months

Sunday 2nd April 2023
quotequote all
jpringle819 said:
It feels like they should have made an effort in the proceeding 11 years to sort out a repayment plan of the float. £4 a month off expenses owed would have paid it off.

That doesn’t make sense - the whole point of a float is it just sits there, you don’t pay it off as you go along.