Attachment of earnings: deducting wages at source

An attachment of earnings order (AEO) is a court order made under the Attachment of Earnings Act 1971 directing a debtor's employer to deduct a fixed amount from each pay packet and forward it to the court for payment to the judgment creditor. It is the most reliable enforcement method against an employed individual — provided you know who they work for and they stay in that job.

Attachment of earnings: deducting wages at source

When attachment of earnings is the right tool

It does not work against the self-employed, the unemployed, those on most state benefits, members of the armed forces (different procedure), or company directors who pay themselves only in dividends. For those defendants, look at third-party debt orders or charging orders instead. AEO is also unavailable for very small judgments — the minimum threshold is £50.

The court must balance two things. The first is your right to be paid: you have a judgment, the defendant has the means, and the court order forces compliance. The second is the protected earnings rate: a floor below which the defendant cannot be left, calculated against a benchmark drawn from income support rates and the defendant's outgoings. The deduction is the difference between net pay and that protected rate, capped at a percentage that varies with income band.

Knowing the employer's name

The single biggest reason attachment of earnings applications fail is the creditor not knowing where the defendant works. The court will not investigate this for you. If you do not know, you can apply for an oral examination under CPR 71 — the defendant is summoned to court and questioned under oath about their assets and employment, and refusal can be punished as contempt.

An oral examination costs £63 (Form N316) and typically produces enough information to start an attachment application within 6–8 weeks. It is also a useful pressure point: many defendants pay rather than attend.

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Enforcement overview