Workers who received an accidental surplus of funds in their severance packages from their former employer Microsoft have been told that they do not have to pay back the extra money.

Some of the redundant workers who previously held IT jobs in the US with Microsoft received too much money from the firm upon departing.

However, the company will not be asking for the funds to be returned. A spokesman for the firm stated that "this was a mistake on our part. We should have handled this situation in a more thoughtful manner."

It was added that the software giant is "reaching out to those impacted to relay that we will not seek any payment from those individuals."

Earlier this month, David Foote, chief executive officer of IT consultancy Foote Partners, stated that official figures indicate that hiring in the sector is comparatively healthy at present.

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