What is an attachment of earnings order and how much can be taken from my wages?

Full answer

An attachment of earnings order (AEO) is issued by a court when you have failed to pay a debt such as a county court judgment (CCJ), council tax arrears, magistrates' court fines or child maintenance. The court orders your employer to take a fixed sum or a percentage from your net (take-home) pay each pay period and send it to the creditor or court, so the deduction happens before the money reaches you. There are two key figures the court sets: the normal deduction rate (how much comes out) and the protected earnings rate (the amount of net pay that must be left untouched so you can cover essential living costs). If your earnings in a given period fall below the protected rate, no deduction is taken that period. Deductions come out of net pay after tax, National Insurance and pension contributions, not gross pay, so it is your take-home figure that matters. Different debt types use different rules. Council tax AEOs use fixed statutory percentage tables based on net earnings bands, while CCJ-based orders use the protected earnings approach. Child maintenance deductions follow separate Child Maintenance Service rules. Who it affects: any employee whose creditor has obtained a judgment and applied to enforce it through wages. The self-employed cannot have a standard AEO because there is no employer to deduct from; creditors use other enforcement instead. Worked context: because deductions are based on net pay, work out your take-home figure first. For example, knowing your income tax (Personal Allowance GBP 12,570, basic rate 20%) and 8% employee National Insurance on earnings between GBP 12,570 and GBP 50,270 tells you your net pay, which is the base the court applies its rate to. Use the take-home pay calculator to find your net figure, then check the court order for the exact deduction. Always tell the court if your circumstances change.

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