Contractor rights

[jessetree]

Hi all, I worked for a local authority last year at a school.
I have worked for them many times in the past no problems. However I had to change my business account to a different bank. I sent the invoice to the school with an email saying I have a different account to be paid into. The invoice only had the new account details.
The school sent on the invoice to the local authority for payment.
The Financial department paid the old account which is unaccessible as its on a debt management company.
So the money is gone.
They say they won't pay again and to not pursue it or they will take legal action.
It was just over £2000
What can I do?

 

[ClubMan]

From the location in your profile and the fact that the amount is in sterling it looks like you're based in the UK. Assuming that to be the case, you should note that Askaboutmoney is an Irish site so you may not be the most appropriate place to look for feedback on UK finance issues.

 

[jessetree]

I was only asking for advice mate, sorry if you think I shouldn't be here.
I have just read the rules, and it does not state that a uk citizen cannot join.
I'm 7 % Irish according to ancestry dna.

 

[jpd]

Any advice here will be in line with Irish legal customs and laws

These are similar to but not the same as those in the UK

 

[TomEdison]

I was only asking for advice mate, sorry if you think I shouldn't be here.
I have just read the rules, and it does not state that a uk citizen cannot join.
I'm 7 % Irish according to ancestry dna.

No, I'm sure you're welcome to join. I'm a regular on the site and I live in Australia.

The point is that AAM is a good source of information about financial matters in Ireland. If you want to know whether, if these things happened in Ireland, you would have any comeback as a matter of Irish law, there are people here who can tell you that. We're not so hot on UK law and practice.

 

[ClubMan]

I was only asking for advice mate, sorry if you think I shouldn't be here.
I have just read the rules, and it does not state that a uk citizen cannot join.
I'm 7 % Irish according to ancestry dna.

Other posters have clarified what I was getting at. Mate.

 

[BIG-notorious]

I sent the invoice to the school with an email saying I have a different account to be paid into. The invoice only had the new account details.
The school sent on the invoice to the local authority for payment.

The local authority did absolutely the right thing in ignoring the changed details on the invoice and paying to the bank account on file. The bank details would be set up on their accounts package before the very first payment and you'd have to go through a well defined process to change them. This is to mitigate the risk of invoice redirect fraud.

So the money is gone.

Yup

They say they won't pay again

Why would they? they've made a payment for the amount due to your bank account. What happens to it afterwards is not their problem.

the old account which is unaccessible as its on a debt management company.

I wouldn't mention this to the local authority. There's generally rules/contract provisions about insolvent suppliers- if they know you're in this financial hole you may never see another penny from them. This is probably the legal action they're referring to: removing you from whatever framework/contract got you the job in the first place.

It was just over £2000
What can I do?

Follow the appropriate process to change your bank details with the local authorities finance department. Take the hit and learn the lesson.