Civil Judgment Debt Attachment

Civil Judgment Debt Attachment of Earnings Order (County Court)

The Attachment of Earnings Act 1971 (“the 1971 Act”) allows a court to order you, or your company, to make deductions from the earnings of an employee to recover unpaid civil judgment debts (county courts).

The form that the court sends you will identify which type of attachment order you are being asked to operate.

Maintenance and fines are priority orders and take ‘priority’ among themselves and other priority orders by date they were issued 

HOW TO OPERATE AN AEO

An AEO tells you:

• The total debt owed by your employee (unless the order is for ongoing maintenance)
• CAPS orders (for County Court Judgments) do not tell an employer how often to make payments. Many employers send payment weekly as the order shows the NDR (Normal Deduction Rate) and PER (Protected Earnings Rate) as weekly, but it can be paid monthly.
• The amount you should usually deduct each week or month (the NDR)
• The amount below which you must not make a deduction (the PER).

 If your employee works at a different location to your office, the work can be done by a payroll administrator or a branch manager and you can ask the court to send further correspondence to an alternative address.

• Deduct (if possible) the amount specified in the order
• Send the deduction to the address stated in the order
• Pay the remainder (if there are no other deductions to be made) to your employee

Under the 1971 Act you must:

• Write to the court (or CAPS for County Court Orders) within ten days of receiving an order if you do not employ the person named in it
• Take all reasonable steps to comply with an order or a varied order
• Write to the CAPS within ten days if the employee leaves your employment – a telephone call is not sufficient. An AEO lapses from the pay day coinciding with or following termination of employment.
• Write to CAPS that made the order within seven days if you learn that a new employee has an existing order against him, giving details of your employee’s earnings and anticipated earnings.

Failing to comply with an AEO, or failing to give the required notice within the time limits, are offences under the 1971 Act, subject to a fine that can be imposed on you or your organisation or a term of imprisonment up to 14 days. If you have any questions relating
to the Order, or require clarification, you must contact the court or CAPS immediately.

The court will tell you in writing if it:

• Changes (varies) the NDR or PER. A magistrates’ court (for a maintenance order) may vary the PER for a period of up to four weeks. You should revert to the original PER after the period stated in the order
• Discharges (cancels) the order, or if the order has been paid in full. You must stop deductions as soon as possible and certainly within seven days of receiving the notice. Any money deducted should be sent to the court at once. You should check the amount of the final deduction. It may be less than the usual deduction, for example when it completes payment of the sum due.

 To set up an Civil Judgment Debt Attachment go to Payslips > Double click Employee

1)  Select employee to apply the Civil Judgment Debt to
      Go to Payslips>, then double click on the employees name for whom you have received the order for.

2)  Deductions
      Under deductions click the Add button

3)  Attachment of Earnings Order
      From the dropdown, select Attachment Orders

4)  Add Attachment Order
     Click Add attachment Order, and from the dropdown select Civil Judgment Debt Attachment of earnings order.

Setting up the Civil Judgment Debt Attachment 

TYPES AND DATES

• Description
  Enter a description for the Civil Judgment Debt
• Reference
  Enter the reference number, you will find this on the letter telling you to apply the Civil Judgment Debt for the employee.

DATES

• Date Made
  Enter the date the Civil Judgment Debt was made.
• Date to apply from
  The date to apply the Civil Judgment Debt.
• Date to stop
  The Civil Judgment Debt should only be stopped once the full amount of the order has been paid, Or if you received notification from the Courts to stop the AOE.

AMOUNTS AND STATUS

To access this screen, click the Amounts and Status tab.

• Weekly/ Monthly amount
  Enter the weekly/ monthly amount to be deducted. This will be shown as the NDR (Normal Deduction Rate) on the order from the courts.
• Protected Earnings
  The order will also state what the PER (Protected Earnings Rate) are for the employee, Enter the PER in the box provided.
• Total amount to be paid
  The order will show what the total amount to be paid is. Enter in the box provided.
• Admin Charge
  You the employer can deduct £1 as an administration charge for deducting the attachment.

STATUS 

• Cumulative amount paid at start
  If the employee has already paid some of the attachment (i.e in another or previous employment) enter the amount here.
• Cumulative amount paid in this employment
  If the employee has already paid part or you have done a mid year set up, enter the amount already paid here.

Click Save

Brightpay will now apply the attachment of earnings order.