An accounting "glitch" has been blamed for the error which led the authority to make two identical payments to three of Northampton's seven parish councils in the space of a few days.

Payments of parish precepts – council tax money collected by the borough on behalf of parish councils – are made twice a year, at the end of April and October.

But the mistake means an entire year's funding has been paid out all at once, leaving borough council officials desperate to get the extra money back.

The largest over-payment was made to Wootton and East Hunsbury Parish Council, which received the latest of two £167,000 sums this week.

Duston Parish Council was given £156,000 too much and Collingtree Parish Council was overpaid £4,000.

Kate Houlihan, deputy clerk at Wootton Parish Council, said she had to contact the borough council herself to tell them about the error.

"Our precept payment went in as normal and then on Wednesday I spotted it had gone in again," she said.

"I contacted the borough council straight away and told them I thought there had been a mistake.

"It's obvious the wrong button was pressed somewhere but I'm sure they can't afford to be paying all their precepts at once."

Jackie Dickens, outgoing clerk of Collingtree Parish Council, said she was contacted by a borough council official who asked for the payment to be returned.

She said: "I had a phone call from someone in the borough council's finance department saying that because of a glitch with their new payment system, they had accidentally paid us twice.

"They had overpaid us by £4,000 and wanted the money back."

Malcolm Mildren, the borough council's cabinet member for finance, admitted a mistake had been made and said the money would be returned by the three parish councils affected.

Councillor Mildren (Lib Dem, Parklands) said: "To help the town's parish councils the borough council pays them their precepts as two lump sums.

"An administrative error has meant that three parish councils have received both payments at once.

"We have asked them to return the second payment and this will be paid as usual in October."