Magistrates' Court General Civil Procedure Rules 2020

An attachment of earnings order (except an order under Rule 72.04(6)(b)) must specify either generally or in relation to any particular pay-day or pay-days the normal deduction rate, that is to say, the rate at which the Court considers it to be reasonable that the earnings of the judgment debtor should be applied in satisfying the order to which the attachment of earnings order relates but not exceeding a rate that appears to the Court to be necessary for the purpose of—

securing payment of the amount due and unpaid under the order; and

securing payment within a reasonable time of any costs ordered by the Court to be paid by the judgment debtor.

An attachment of earnings order may specify a normal deduction rate to apply for a specified number of pay-days after the order comes into force and a lower or higher normal deduction rate to apply to subsequent pay-days.

An attachment of earnings order (except an order under Rule 72.04(6)(b)) must also specify the protected earnings rate, that is to say, the rate below which, having regard to the resources and needs of the judgment debtor and of any other person for whom the judgment debtor must or reasonably may provide, the Court considers it to be reasonable that the earnings to which the order relates should not be reduced by a payment under the order.

An attachment of earnings order must specify an amount in respect of the clerical and administrative costs of making payments under the order which an employer is entitled to deduct in respect of each payment from the earnings of the judgment debtor in addition to any other amount.

Unless the Court—

has received from the judgment debtor a completed form pursuant to the notice in Form 72C given under Rule 72.02(4) as to the property and assets of the judgment debtor and the debts, liabilities and the financial obligations of the judgment debtor; or

has examined the judgment debtor as to those matters—

An attachment of earnings order must be in Form 72F.