NHS Highland apologises after 'vast majority' of staff on monthly pay fail to receive their money on time

THOUSANDS of NHS Highland staff have not been paid on time.

It is understood that the error has left some staff incurring bank charges after the “vast majority” of staff who are paid monthly did not receive their money on the expected date.

It is not yet clear if the error is related to the Bank Holiday in other parts of the UK.

The health board said: “It has come to light over the weekend that the vast majority of NHS Highland employees who are paid monthly have not been paid today (Monday) as expected.

“We appreciate this is very concerning for employees and would like to apologise for any difficulties this situation has caused.”

It said any staff with financial concerns as a result of the glitch should contact the payroll department to “discuss what options may be available to assist”.

The statement continued: “We will, of course, support colleagues around any wider financial implications relating to non payments.

“This is something that has never happened before and we are carrying out an internal investigation to understand exactly what has happened. We will then work with our payroll department and our banking partners to ensure that something like this cannot happen again.”

It has emerged that concerns about monthly payments were raised with NHS Highland on Friday.

It prompted an investigation with the board seeking assurances from banks that payments would be made as expected.

“We were satisfied with the assurances that we were given,” a board spokeswoman said.

“Once again we are extremely sorry about this and will do what we can to support staff.”