Almost half of employees have been overpaid at some point, but a third didn't own up and pocketed the cash, a survey has found.

In more than a third of cases staff received at least £250 more than they should have.

Scottish staff proved to be the most dishonest, with only one in five owning up to an error. Those in the south east came top of the honesty league, with 36 per cent flagging up pay packet discrepancies.

But Ian Sharland, managing director of HR Services at CMG, which commissioned the survey, warned that payroll mistakes could undermine employees' trust in staff, not to mention make a serious dent in a company's cash flow.

"It may be a nice surprise for most of us to find a mistake in our payslip that's in our favour, but it's a different story altogether for the company concerned. Salary is obviously one way to motivate and retain staff, but it has to be done properly," he said.

The survey of 600 adults was conducted by ICM Research.