Attachment of earnings and court orders in the United Kingdom
Reviewed by Mellow Editorial Team, HR & payroll content team
An attachment of earnings order (AEO) is a court instruction that requires an employer to deduct money from an employee's wages and pay it directly to a court or creditor. Compliance is not optional — ignoring an order is a contempt of court.
What an attachment of earnings order is
A court issues an AEO when someone owes a debt and has not paid it voluntarily. Common debts covered include county court judgments (CCJs), council tax arrears, child maintenance (via a deduction from earnings order from the Child Maintenance Service), and fines. The order names the employer and specifies how much to deduct from each pay period.
There are several types of order. A county court AEO covers civil debts. A council tax AEO covers local authority arrears. A child support deduction from earnings order is issued by the Child Maintenance Service rather than a court. Each type has its own calculation rules, but the employer's core obligation — deduct, pay over, keep records — is the same across all of them.
What the order tells you
Every AEO will state:
- The normal deduction rate (NDR) — the amount to deduct each pay period when the employee can afford it.
- The protected earnings rate (PER) — the minimum take-home pay the employee must be left with. You must never deduct so much that net pay falls below this figure.
- Where and when to send the money (usually to the court or the Child Maintenance Service, within a set number of days of payday).
If an employee's earnings in a given period are so low that deducting the NDR would take pay below the PER, you deduct only the difference between actual net pay and the PER — which may be nothing at all. You cannot carry forward the shortfall and double-deduct it the following period without further instruction.
The exact employer process
Step 1 — Acknowledge receipt. When you receive an AEO, complete and return any reply form included. For a county court AEO (form N56), you must confirm the employee works for you, their earnings, and pay frequency. There is a deadline — typically around eight days — so act promptly.
Step 2 — Set up the deduction. Add the deduction to your payroll before the next payday. The deduction is taken from net pay — that is, after income tax and National Insurance have already been calculated. Tax and NI are unaffected by an AEO; they still apply in the usual way against gross earnings.
Step 3 — Calculate each period. Each payday, check whether the employee's net pay exceeds the PER. If it does, deduct the NDR (or the amount that would bring net pay exactly to the PER, if the NDR would take it lower). If net pay already sits at or below the PER, deduct nothing that period.
Step 4 — Pay the court or agency. Send the deducted amount to the address on the order, on time. Keep a record of each payment.
Step 5 — Tell the court about changes. If the employee leaves your employment, you must notify the court in writing promptly — usually within ten days. If the employee's earnings change significantly, check the order for any reporting obligation.
Step 6 — Administration fee. Employers may deduct a small administration fee from the employee's pay for the cost of operating the order. The current permitted fee is £1 per deduction. This comes out of the employee's pay on top of the court deduction, not in addition to the amount sent to the court.
Multiple orders and priority rules
An employee can be subject to more than one AEO at the same time. The orders are processed in the sequence in which they were received, and the PER still applies to the combined total. Child support deduction from earnings orders take priority over county court AEOs. If the combined deductions from all orders would breach the PER, you reduce or suspend lower-priority deductions first.
If you receive a new order for an employee who already has one, notify the court that issued the new order that another is already in operation. The court decides how to proceed.
Payroll reporting and HMRC
An AEO deduction does not appear on a Full Payment Submission (FPS) in the same way that tax or NI does — it is a net-pay deduction and is not reported to HMRC. Your RTI obligations under Real Time Information remain unchanged: submit the FPS on or before each payday showing gross pay, tax, and NI as normal. The AEO is recorded in your own payroll records and in what you remit to the court.
What happens if you do not comply
Failing to make deductions, failing to pay the court, or ignoring the order entirely can result in the employer being held in contempt of court, fined, or made liable for the debt themselves. If you receive an order that appears incorrect or relates to someone not in your employment, contact the issuing court in writing rather than simply ignoring it.
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