Overpayments to government workers have topped £3.1m in the last five years.

There were a total of 2,422 payroll overpayments, a Freedom of Information (FoI) request has revealed.

But the Cabinet Office refused to disclose how many government staff have been asked to repay overpayments, and how much has been repaid, claiming this would breach data protection laws.

In its FoI response, it explained there are a number of reasons why overpayments occur in relation to salary, expenses, allowances and reductions.

These include late notification of leaving or of contractual changes, incorrect information provided to payroll and the reclamation of training expenses.

The number of overpayments rose between April 2020 and March 2021 from 501 and a net value of £429,495 to 537 and a value of £608,426 the following year and then peaked at 571 and a value of £850,959 between April 2022 and March 2023.

It then fell to 493 and a net value of £722,893 between April 2023 and March 2024, and to 320 and a value of £561,301 in the last financial year.

The total value of overpayments over the last five years was £3,173,077.

A total of 1,395 of the 2,422 overpayments were due to the actions or oversights attributed to a specific department, individual employee or manager.

The official government policy on overpayments states: ‘All officers must check their payslip for accuracy and notify the payroll section of any errors immediately.

‘Where a salary overpayment has occurred, all officers are under obligation to repay the full amount at the earliest opportunity and must agree the appropriate mechanism for recovery, even if the salary overpayment is by government's own mistake.’

The Cabinet Office said non-recovery of overpayment is only considered in exceptional circumstances.

It said a revised overpayment policy is due to be brought in.