Council Tax Arrears - Attachment of Earnings

Guidance for employers - Attachment of Earnings

How to make payments

Payments should be made should be made weekly or monthly (according to the payment frequency outlined).

If more than one Attachment of Earnings order is active, please also specify which Liability Order the payment is for.

Payment can be made by Debit / Credit Card; Online, Cash, Internet or Telephone Banking quoting our reference number. You can find our payment information here.

Remittance advice should be sent to recovery@oadby-wigston.gov.uk

Any Attachment of Earnings orders will confirm:

• the name and payroll number (if known) of the employee who owes council tax
• the amount that needs to be paid
• the council tax reference number you need to use as a payment reference

Deductions

Deductions should begin as soon as possible after the order has been received. We must receive the deducted amounts by the 18th day of the month following the month in which the deduction was made.

As well as the deducted amount you can deduct £1 per transaction from your employee's salary towards administrative costs. A statement of the total amount deducted (including the £1 administrative costs) should be given to your employee.

Deductions should be made each pay day until the total amount has been paid.

If the employee has moved on or has never been in your employment, you need to let us know within 14 days and then you no longer need to do anything.

Earnings

Earnings include:

• wages or salary (including any fees, bonus, commission, overtime pay or other additions to wages or salary payable under a contract of service)
• statutory sick pay.

Earnings do not include:

• public departments of the Government of Northern Ireland or of a territory outside the United Kingdom
• armed forces pay and allowances
• social security benefits or allowances (including maternity pay)
• disability benefits or allowances
• wages payable to a person as a seaman, other than as a seaman of a fishing boat
• youth training allowances.

Deductions from weekly earnings

The following deduction rates should be used for employees being paid weekly. If your employee is paid in weekly intervals, then their net earnings should be divided by the number of weeks in the pay period.

The table should then be used to work out the appropriate weekly deduction and the resulting amount multiplied by the number of weeks in the period.

Net earnings	Deduction rate (%)
Not exceeding £75	0%
Exceeding £75 but not exceeding £135	3%
Exceeding £135 but not exceeding £185	5%
Exceeding £185 but not exceeding £225	7%
Exceeding £225 but not exceeding £355	12%
Exceeding £355 but not exceeding £505	17%
Exceeding £505	17% in respect of the first £505 and 50% in respect of the remainder

Deductions from monthly earnings

The following deduction rates should be used for employees being paid monthly. If your employee is paid in monthly intervals, then their net earnings should be divided by the number of months in the pay period.

The table should then be used to work out the appropriate monthly deduction and the resulting amount multiplied by the number of months in the period.

Net earnings	Deduction rate (%)
Not exceeding £300	0%
Exceeding £300 but not exceeding £550	3%
Exceeding £550 but not exceeding £740	5%
Exceeding £740 but not exceeding £900	7%
Exceeding £900 but not exceeding £1,420	12%
Exceeding £1,420 but not exceeding £2,020	17%
Exceeding £2,020	17% in respect of the first £2,020 and 50% in respect of the remainder

Deductions from earnings paid at other regular intervals

The following deduction rates should be used for employees who get paid at regular intervals, but not weekly or monthly.

If your employee is paid in regular intervals (but not whole weeks or months), then the employees net earnings should be divided by the number of days.

The following table should then be used to work out the appropriate daily rate, which should then be multiplied by the number of days in the period.

Net earnings	Deduction rate (%)
Not exceeding £11	0%
Exceeding £11 but not exceeding £20	3%
Exceeding £20 but not exceeding £27	5%
Exceeding £27 but not exceeding £33	7%
Exceeding £33 but not exceeding £52	12%
Exceeding £52 but not exceeding £72	17%
Exceeding £72	17% in respect of the first £72 and 50% in respect of the remainder

Deductions from earnings paid in multiple series

The following deduction rates should be used for employees who get paid in multiple series (e.g. monthly and weekly). If your employee is paid in two or more series of payments at regular intervals, then you should select the series with the shortest interval between payments and use the correct table of rates for that period.

In addition, deduct 20 per cent of the net earnings payable in every other series.

If the person is paid in two or more series and all the intervals are the same length, then select one of these, make deductions as described above, and in addition deduct 20% of the net earnings payable in every other series.

Example:

An employee's net pay is £150 weekly and £600 monthly:

• A deduction of £7 is made for the weekly pay
• A further deduction of £120 for the monthly pay (20 per cent of £600).

Deductions from earnings paid irregularly

The following deduction rates should be used for employees who aren't being paid regularly.

For employees who are not paid at regular intervals, their net earnings should be divided by the number of days since the last payment and the table should be used to work out the appropriate daily deductions, which in turn should be multiplied by the number of days in the period.

Net earnings	Deduction rate (%)
Not exceeding £11	0%
Exceeding £11 but not exceeding £20	3%
Exceeding £20 but not exceeding £27	5%
Exceeding £27 but not exceeding £33	7%
Exceeding £33 but not exceeding £52	12%
Exceeding £52 but not exceeding £72	17%
Exceeding £72	17% in respect of the first £72 and 50% in respect of the remainder

Example

An employee's net pay:

• (a) £90 (from 1 April to 9 April - nine days)
• (b) £120 (from 10 April to 19 April - 10 days)
• (c) £176 (from 20 April to 30 April - 11 days)

The deductions to be made would be:

(a) 90 ÷ 9 = £10

• Daily deduction = £10 x 3% = 30p
• Deduction to be made for period = 9 x £0.30 = £2.70

(b) 120 ÷ 10 = £12

• Daily deduction = £12 x 3% = 36p
• Deduction to be made for period = 10 x £0.36 = £3.60

(c) 176 ÷ 11 = £16

• Daily deduction = £16 x 5% = 80p
• Deduction to be made for period = 11 x £0.80 = £8.80

Deductions from earnings paid regularly and irregularly

What to do if your employee gets paid for both a regular and irregular period on the same day.

If, on the same pay day, your employee will be paid regular period and irregular period earnings, then these amounts should be added together and treated as earnings payable at the regular interval (whether that's weekly or monthly).

Example

An employee receives £250 as normal net weekly pay. In addition £350 is received every 15 days for a different task.

The deductions to be made would be for weekly earnings of £250 + £350 = £600.

The deduction rate for £600 is:

• 17% of the first £370 = 62.90
• plus 50% of the remainder (£230) = £115
• totalling £177.90

Multiple orders

If an order is already in place for an employee, then the new order is still applied (in date sequence) with the later order being applied to the remaining earnings.

If there are two or more orders in place, then no further orders can be added.

See the priorities between attachment of earnings orders document for full details on how to deal with multiple orders.

Priority for multiple Attachment of Earnings orders

How to deal with multiple orders.

Orders after 31 March 1993

Priorities between orders where all orders concerned are made post 31 March 1993:

Orders	Action for employer	Relevant regulations
Council tax order and another council tax order	Apply orders in date order, applying later order to residue of earnings. An employer shall not action a council tax order if there is already two council tax orders in payment. The local authority should be notified accordingly	Regulation 42(1) of Council Tax (administration and Enforcement) Regulations (SI 1992/613, as substituted by SI 1992/3008
Council tax order and 1971 Act order	Apply orders in date order. applying later order to residue of earnings. An employer shall not deal with a ‘non-priority order’ until he has dealt with the council tax order or orders and any other order under the Attachment of Earnings Act 1971or section 31(2) of the Child Support Act 1991. In this context a ‘non-priority order’ is an order made on or after 1 April 1993 under the 1971 Act either wholly or in part in respect of the payment of a judgement debt or payments under an administration order	Regulation 42(2) of Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations (SI 1992/613, as substituted by SI 1992/3008)
Council tax order and Child Support DEO	Apply orders in date order, applying later order to residue of earnings	Regulation 42(2) of Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations (SI 1992/613, as substituted by SI 1992/3008)