Identify Attachable Earnings for Court Orders and Student Loans: Explained

This topic identifies which earnings are subject to each type of involuntary deduction by default. It also describes how to change the default subclassification when necessary.

In England and Wales, attachable earnings refers to the amount subject to Attachment of Earnings Orders (AEO). In Scotland, arrestable earnings refers to the amount subject to Earnings Arrestments (EAs) of different types. Deductible earnings refers to the amount subject to Deduction of Earnings Orders (DEOs). For simplicity, this help topic uses the term attachable earnings for attachable, deductible, and arrestable earnings.

Default Subclassifications

By default, Earnings elements you create for Regular Earnings and Irregular Earnings primary classifications have a subclassification of Attachable Earnings Regular or Attachable Earnings Irregular. This means that the earnings are subject to all types of court order deductions.

By default, Earnings elements you create for Regular Earnings and Irregular Earnings primary classifications also have a subclassification of Student Loan and are thus subject to student loan deductions.

By default, a deduction element with a Pre-Statutory Deductions primary classification has a subclassification of Reduce Attachable Pre-Statutory Deductions. This means the amount of the pre-statutory deduction reduces the attachable earnings amount.

Additional Subclassifications

Use these subclassifications to exclude certain earnings from the total attachable earnings amount for specific order types.

Subclassification	Description
CTAEO Not Attachable Pension Payment Regular CTAEO Not Attachable Pension Payment Irregular	Assign one of these subclassifications to certain occupational pension earnings to exclude them from the total attachable earnings amount for Council Tax Attachment of Earnings Orders (CTAEO). These subclassifications feed the CTAEO Not Attachable Pension Payment balance. When a payroll run calculates CTAEO, it subtracts the CTAEO Not Attachable Pension Payment balance from the Attachable Earnings balance to derive the final CTAEO Attachable Earnings amount.
AEO Not Attachable Northern Ireland Other Benefits Social Security Regular AEO Not Attachable Northern Ireland Other Benefits Social Security Irregular	Assign one of these subclassifications to the elements to exclude them from the total attachable earnings amount for Attachment of Earnings Orders (AEO).

Subclassification

Description

CTAEO Not Attachable Pension Payment Regular

CTAEO Not Attachable Pension Payment Irregular

Assign one of these subclassifications to certain occupational pension earnings to exclude them from the total attachable earnings amount for Council Tax Attachment of Earnings Orders (CTAEO).

These subclassifications feed the CTAEO Not Attachable Pension Payment balance. When a payroll run calculates CTAEO, it subtracts the CTAEO Not Attachable Pension Payment balance from the Attachable Earnings balance to derive the final CTAEO Attachable Earnings amount.

AEO Not Attachable Northern Ireland Other Benefits Social Security Regular

AEO Not Attachable Northern Ireland Other Benefits Social Security Irregular

Assign one of these subclassifications to the elements to exclude them from the total attachable earnings amount for Attachment of Earnings Orders (AEO).

Attachable Earnings by Order Type

This table indicates the types of earnings to include or exclude from attachable earnings for each court order type, based on current legislation:

Included Earnings	AEO, AEO Fines, DEO, CMSDEO	AEO Northern Ireland	CTAEO	EA, CMA, CAO
Wages or Salary (including bonus and irregular income)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Pension	Yes	Yes	No	Yes*
Statutory Sick Pay	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Redundancy Payments	No	No	No	No

Excluded Earnings	AEO, AEO Fines, DEO, CMSDEO	AEO Northern Ireland	CTAEO	EA, CMA, CAO
Tax Credit	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Disability Pension	Yes	Yes	No	Yes*
Statutory Maternity, Paternity, or Adoption Pay	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Other benefits relating to social security	n/a	Yes	n/a	n/a
Armed forces pay	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Wages payable to a person as a seaman	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Guaranteed Minimum Payment	Yes	Yes	NA (Pension not Included)	Yes
Sums payable by a public department of the Government of Northern Ireland or a territory outside UK	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Income tax (PAYE)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Primary Class 1 NI contributions	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Pension contributions (pre-tax only)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

*For Earnings Arrestments, only pension contributions made as pre-tax deductions should be included; exclude contributions for occupational pensions made under an enactment exempting them from diligence

How to Change the Default Subclassifications

When you create earnings and deductions elements, verify that the default subclassification rules apply. On the Elements Summary page, open the Subclassification Rules page to view and edit the element's default subclassifications. Add or remove subclassifications as appropriate for the type of earnings.