Attachment of Earnings

Attachment of Earnings (or court orders) describe the ability of a court to instruct an employer to deduct money from an employees wages in repayment of a debt.

When an employee receives a court order, the employer is leagally obliged to deduct the required amount from the employees pay before it is paid. This often involves complex calculations including percentages, fixed band deductions, protected earnings and minimum contribution amounts.

Luckily, PayRun.io does all the hard work for you!

Supported Attachment or Earning Types

PayRun.io supports many types of attachment (see Types of Attachment for a full list). Each type has specific attributes that contribute to how the attachment deduction is calculated.

Arrestable Pay

Arrestable pay describes the amount of pay that can be considered for the arrestment calculation. This amount is selected from the employees pay after tax and national insurance deductions have been applied.

Example:

"Bad Debt Brian" has a court order attached to his salary. The AEOP (Attachment of Earnings Priority Order) states that £100.00 should be deduected with £50.00 of protected earnings.

Brian earns £120.00 in week one. His PAYE tax due is £18.00 and his class 1 NIC contribution is £12.00. After deductions, Brians Arrestable Pay amount is £90.00.

The order states that Brian has £50.00 of protected earnings. This results in a £40.00 arrestment being made.

Because shortfalls in AOEP repayments must be carried forward, Brian also incurs £60.00 of arrears. The arrears are considered in the next payment period and reclaimed if sufficent arrestable pay exists.

In addition to tax and national insurance, some court order types include a portion of protected earnings. This can be a fixed cash amount or percentage of the arrestable pay.

Once the arrestable pay is calculated, it is then possible to work out the deduction.

Adding an Attachment of Earnings

Like all other payments and deductions, attachment of earnings are controlled using pay instructions. The Attachment of Earnings Pay Instruction (AoeInstruction) allows you select the attachment type and include any order specific values.

AoE Pay Instruction Example

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<AoePayInstruction xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <StartDate>2018-04-01</StartDate>
  <CaseNumber>COURTREF001</CaseNumber>
  <AoeType>AOE</AoeType>
  <IssueDate>2018-04-01</IssueDate>
  <StopDate xsi:nil="true">
  <TotalToPay>1499.99</TotalToPay>
  <PreviousPayments>0.00</PreviousPayments>
  <PreviousArrears>0.00</PreviousArrears>
  <ClaimAdminFee>true</ClaimAdminFee>
</AoePayInstruction>

{
  "AoePayInstruction": {
    "StartDate": "2018-04-01",
    "CaseNumber": "COURTREF001",
    "AoeType": "AOE",
    "IssueDate": "2018-04-01",
    "StopDate": null,
    "TotalToPay": "1499.99",
    "PreviousPayments": "0.00",
    "PreviousArrears": "0.00",
    "ClaimAdminFee": "true"
  }
}

AoE Pay Instruciton Properties

See the reference data page for more information.

Claiming the Admin Fee

In compensation for the administration overhead of collecting court order arrestments, the employer is allowed to claim a £1.00 administration fee from employee payments.

Setting the Claim Admin Fee property to true instructs PayRun.io to include a £1.00 deduction line in the employees payslip.

The employer can deduct an administration fee for each active court order the employee has.

Previous Payments and Previous Arrears Properties

For situations where the court order was issued prior to the payroll existing in PayRun.io, you can include previous payments and previous arrears in the AoE Pay Instruction. Theses values are then considered when the arrestment value is calculated.

Linked AoE Instructions

It is sometimes necessary to change the deduction behaviour of an attachment. An example of this is if the employee appeals and is allowed to reduce the deduction amount of the order.

PayRun.io supports this behaviour by linking AoE pay instructions. Any AoE instruction that has a matching Case Number is considered linked. During the arrestment calculation process, all (in scope) linked instructions are considered.

AoE Pay Lines

When an in-scope AoE pay instruction is detected, the PayRun.io calculation service will generate a AoE Pay Line. The pay line details the amount of arrestment made and indicates any change to the arrears amount.

Arrears on the Pay Line

AoE pay lines are considered cumulatively. The total amount arrested (against the court order) and balance of arrears is calculated by aggregating all historical pay lines.

AoE pay lines store a positive or negative arrears value to represent the changing state of the arrears balance. A positive number indicates arrears have increased; a negative number indicates arrears have decreased.

Example:

Attachment of Earnings in the Commentary

Like all other PayRun.io calculations, a full explanation of the calculation can be seen within the employees calculation commentary report. The commentary exactly describes the steps taken to reach the arrestment and arrears amounts.

Example:
The following calculation commentary extract details a Direct Earnings Attachment (higher rate) court order deduction.

--   Begin AttachmentOfEarningsCalculator
--     Attachment Type: [DEAHIGHER] - Direct Earnings Attachment Higher
--     Description: Direct Earnings Attachments - Higher Rate
--     Case Number: DEA-001
--     Issue Date: 2018-01-01
--     Student loan deductions are stopped
--     Arrears are not carried forward
--     Opening Balances:
--       Total To Pay: 2,300.00
--       Payments: 0.00
--       Arrears: 0.00
--       Outstanding: 2,300.00
--     Period Pay Breakdown:
--       Arrestable Pay: 430.00
--       Non Arrestable Pay: 0.00
--     Protected Earnings:
--       Fixed percentage: 60.00%
--       Protected earnings: 258.00 = 430.00 * 60.00%
--     Calc Method: Fixed Deduction Bands
--       Band info:
--         Frequency: Monthly
--           | Lower      | Upper      | Rate       | Above Rate |
--           |------------|------------|------------|------------|
--           | 0.00       | 430.00     | 5.00%      | 0.00%      |
--           | 430.00     | 690.00     | 6.00%      | 0.00%      |
--           | 690.00     | 950.00     | 10.00%     | 0.00%      |
--           | 950.00     | 1,160.00   | 14.00%     | 0.00%      |
--           | 1,160.00   | 1,615.00   | 22.00%     | 0.00%      |
--           | 1,615.00   | 2,240.00   | 30.00%     | 0.00%      |
--           | 2,240.00   | N/A        | 40.00%     | 0.00%      |
--           |------------|------------|------------|------------|
--         Selected band: 0.00 to 430.00 (@ 5.00%)
--       Desired deduction: 21.50 = 430.00 * 5.00%
--     Results:
--       Arrestable Pay: 430.00
--       Non Arrestable Pay: 0.00
--       Desired Deduction: 21.50
--       Protected Earnings: 258.00
--       Available Pay: 172.00 = 430.00 - 258.00
--       Arrears Repaid: 0.00
--       Final Deduction: 21.50 = MIN(172.00, 21.50 + 0.00)
--   End AttachmentOfEarningsCalculator

Types of Attachment

PayRun.io supports many different types of court order attachment. The type of attachment is determined (in the AoE Pay Instruction) by specifying the a special AoE Type Code. The codes and attachment types are detailed below.

Supported Types

• AEOP - AEO Priority Order
• AEO - AEO Fine
• CSA - Child Support
• CSA2012 - Child Support 2012
• DEO - Deduction of Earnings Order
• AEONP - AEO Non Priority Order
• CCPRE92 - Community Charge Pre-92
• CCPOST92 - Community Charge Post 92
• CTAEO - Council Tax Attachment
• MCAEO - Magistrates Court Attachment
• EA - Earning Arrest
• CMA - Current Maintenance Arrest
• CAO - Conjoined Arrestment Order
• ISD - Income Support Deduction
• EA2006 - Earnings Arrest (2006)
• CAPS - Centralised Attachment Payment
• DEA - Direct Earnings Attachment
• DEAHIGHER - Direct Earnings Attachment Higher
• DEAFIXED - Direct Earnings Attachment Fixed

AEOP - AEO Priority Order

Attachment of Earnings Order - 1971 Priority

AEO - AEO Fine

Attachment of Earnings Order - Fines Enforcement

AEO Fixed Deduction Bands - Weekly

AEO Fixed Deduction Bands - Monthly

CSA - Child Support

Child Support Agency (CSA) - Child maintenance payments Pre 2012

CSA2012 - Child Support 2012

Child Support Agency (CSA) - Child maintenance payments Post 2012

DEO - Deduction of Earnings Order

Deduction of Earnings Order

AEONP - AEO Non Priority Order

Attachment of Earnings Order - 1971 Non-Priority Civil Debts

CCPRE92 - Community Charge Pre-92

Community Charge Attachment Order - pre-92

CCPOST92 - Community Charge Post 92

Community charge attachment of earnings order (post 1992)

CTAEO - Council Tax Attachment

Council tax attachment of earnings order - Post 2007

CTAEO Fixed Deduction Bands - Weekly

CTAEO Fixed Deduction Bands - Monthly

MCAEO - Magistrates Court Attachment

Magistrates Court Attachment of Earnings Order

MCAEO Fixed Deduction Bands - Weekly

MCAEO Fixed Deduction Bands - Monthly

EA - Earning Arrest

Scottish Earning Arrestments

EA Fixed Deduction Bands Pre 2016-04-06 - Weekly

EA Fixed Deduction Bands Pre 2016-04-06 - Monthly

EA Fixed Deduction Bands between 2016-04-06 and 2019-04-05 - Weekly

EA Fixed Deduction Bands between 2016-04-06 and 2019-04-05 - Monthly

EA Fixed Deduction Bands from 2019-04-05 - Weekly

EA Fixed Deduction Bands from 2019-04-05 - Monthly

CMA - Current Maintenance Arrest

Current Maintenance Arrestment

CAO - Conjoined Arrestment Order

Conjoined Arrestment Order

ISD - Income Support Deduction

Income Support Deduction Notice

EA2006 - Earnings Arrest (2006)

Earnings arrest for bankruptcy and diligence

EA2006 Fixed Deduction Bands Pre 2016-04-06 - Weekly

EA2006 Fixed Deduction Bands Pre 2016-04-06 - Monthly

EA2006 Fixed Deduction Bands post 2016-04-06 - Weekly

EA2006 Fixed Deduction Bands post 2016-04-06 - Monthly

EA2006 Fixed Deduction Bands from 2019-04-05 - Weekly

EA2006 Fixed Deduction Bands from 2019-04-05 - Monthly

CAPS - Centralised Attachment Payment

Centralised attachments of earnings payment

DEA - Direct Earnings Attachment

Direct Earnings Attachments

DEA Fixed Deduction Bands - Weekly

DEA Fixed Deduction Bands - Monthly

DEAHIGHER - Direct Earnings Attachment Higher

Direct Earnings Attachments - Higher Rate

DEAHIGHER Fixed Deduction Bands - Weekly

DEAHIGHER Fixed Deduction Bands - Monthly

DEAFIXED - Direct Earnings Attachment Fixed

Direct Earnings Attachments - Fixed Rate