In the days following Christmas, it’s only natural to return a few things. The hideous jumper from great-aunt Mabel, a book that will never be read, a kitchen gadget that would otherwise collect dust.

For colleges in Scotland, one return, in particular, will prove particularly painful.

Thanks to a revision of staffing data, colleges across the country may be asked to pay back hundreds of thousands of pounds they had received to support the harmonisation of pay and conditions across the country. This year the return of national bargaining, along with the subsequent pay deals for support and teaching staff, led to a significant increase in the staff cost for FE institutions. The Scottish Funding Council, therefore, pledged an extra £34.2 million to support colleges in this.

Colleges were then allocated specific amounts from that pot of cash based on staff data provided by the Employers’ Association.

But thanks to a “revision” in the data, hundreds of thousands of pounds may now need to be paid back.

According to a spreadsheet seen by Tes Scotland, New College Lanarkshire could be in line to repay £496,285, while West College Scotland might have to find £317,160 to return to the Scottish Funding Council. Some £252,975 might need to be repaid by Glasgow Kelvin College.

And yet, for some colleges, it seems that they received significantly less than they should have, according to the yet-to-be-validated new figures.

The City of Glasgow College received £220,539 in addition to what it should have been paid. Meanwhile, Argyll College UHI, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee and Angus, Edinburgh, Fife, Lews Castle, Orkney, South Lanarkshire and West Highland received less than the new data suggests they should have done.

College principals told Tes Scotland that the money had already been allocated and spent.

Repaying such huge amounts would be challenging, they said, given the considerable economic pressures on the sector. “We don’t have those funds hanging around so we wouldn’t be able to pay that,” one principal said.

“We, in good faith, gave the [Employers’ Association] our contract data and assumed the calculations were done on what we gave them and what was agreed.”

Another college leader said: “When the award was made, there was no fine print that it would be reviewed so colleges have included it within their budget planning. To clawback mid-year, when colleges are under considerable economic pressure, would be unhelpful.”

The Scottish Funding Council said: “The Scottish Funding Council has yet to receive the finalised updated costing from Colleges Scotland. When we do so, we will examine whether there is a need for a redistribution of this funding across the sector, recognising that this funding has been provided for a specific purpose.”