Magistrates Court Attachment

Magistrates Court Attachment of Earnings Order

Since 5 April 2004, new fines AEOs issued under the Courts Act 2003 (“the 2003 Act”) by magistrates’ courts in England and Wales have been deductible by fixed tables (see below tables) in a similar way to Council Tax attachments currently deducted by employers. The tables used for fines have the same percentage deductions as those currently used for Council Tax deductions.

HOW TO COMPLY WITH AN ORDER 

Making deductions

The order comes into force on the day you receive it. You should begin to make deductions the next time you pay your employee and on each future pay day.

There is no liability for a fine for non-compliance with the order if the first pay day falls within seven days of the date the order was received and no deduction is made on that first pay day.

You should make deductions from your employee’s earnings until the total debt owed by your employee is reached. If you receive an order for ongoing maintenance, you should make deductions until the court tells you to stop.

How much to deduct on a weekly/ Monthly basis?

Upon receiving the Magistrates court order it will show the total amount to be deducted from the employees’ NET pay until the order is fully paid. Use the below tables to calculate how much to deduct until the total amount is paid.

The Payroll software will calculate the employees weekly/ Monthly deduction automatically based on the below tables.

To set up an Magistrates Court Attachment go to Payslips> Double click Employee

 1)  Select employee to apply the Magistrates Court Attachment 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 Magistrates Court Attachment of
       Earnings Order.

SETTING UP THE MAGISTRATES COURT ATTACHMENT

TYPE AND DATES 

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

DATES

• Date Made
  Enter the date the magistrates court attachment was made.
• Date to apply from
  The date to apply the magistrates court attachment will be the day you receive the order.
• Date to stop
  The magistrates order should only be stopped once the full amount of the order has been paid.

AMOUNTS AND STATUS

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

• Total amount to be paid
  Enter the total amount to be paid over. The payroll system will use the about table to calculate how much to deduct from the employees net pay automatically.
• 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.