Earnings Arrestment EA

Earnings Arrestment (EA) (Scotland)

What is an EA

An earnings arrestment is the most commonly used of the three types of arrestment against earnings. It can be used only after the expiry of a charge for payment which has been served on the debtor which gives the debtor 14 days notice that the creditor intends to use some sort of diligence. After expiry of this period a creditor may instruct an officer of court to serve a schedule of arrestment on the debtor’s employer and must also provide the debtor himself with a copy of the schedule where it is reasonably practicable to do so.

When served with a schedule of arrestment, the employer must make deductions from the debtor’s earnings and forward the amount of those deductions to the creditor. The amount of the deduction depends on how much the debtor earns, the provisions of the 1987 Act being intended to ensure that a debtor retains a certain minimum level of income which cannot be affected by the arrestment. Statutory tables, which were recently updated, provide the formula by which the employer must calculate the total amount to be deducted.³³¹ The Executive intends to update the statutory tables on a three yearly interval on the basis of changes in the average earnings index. Different tables apply depending upon whether the employee is paid daily, weekly or monthly. The employer may, although he is not required to, charge the debtor a fee for operating the earnings arrestment. The fee is chargeable each time the deduction is made, i.e. each week if the employee is paid weekly or each month if paid monthly. The fee, which may be varied, has remained at 50p since the 1987 Act came into force in 1988.

The earnings arrestment remains in place until the debt is paid off, the employee changes employment, or the creditor recalls or abandons the arrestment.

To set up an EA go to Payroll> Double click Employee

1)   Select employee to apply the EA 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 Earnings Arrestment (EA) Scotland

Setting up the EA

TYPES AND DATES 

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

DATES

• Date Received
  Enter the date the EA was received.
• Date to apply from
  The date to apply the EA from.
• Date to stop
  The EA 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.

•  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.