Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

How much have we paid for this new computer system?

A number of library workers in Wiltshire have received an unexpected bonus of £357,000 in their combined pay packets - about £15,000 each. The council is blaming this on a 'computer error'.

A statement from the WC press department says "You may see in the local press this week an item regarding an overpayment to library staff in their September salary. As an organisation in September we processed 41,000 payments totalling £109m. We make payments to 32,108 people which include Wiltshire Council, school, fire and police employees. With the introduction of SAP, we have already saved £2m and overall this has been very successful. We have found a minor software glitch which resulted in 23 library staff being overpaid a total of £357,587 in September. As soon as this error was detected we contacted all the staff affected to explain the situation and to apologise for any inconvenience. We have asked them to repay this money and around two-thirds of the money has already been repaid. New processes are now in place to ensure that this type of error does not occur again.

"We would like to thank all staff affected for their honesty and understanding about this error."

It's interesting to note that overpaying in excess of £300k is seen as a 'minor glitch' by WC; personally I would call it an 'embarassing error'. The press release says that SAP (a new computer system) has saved £2m. I would like to see how this figure has been arrived at as my 'mole' at WC tells me that the system is over budget and under performing.