Form

Attachment of earnings order guidance

Updated 12 October 2023

Before asking for an attachment of earnings order

You can find out what to do if a defendant does not pay money after judgement. This will help you decide whether an attachment of earnings order is your best option.

An attachment of earnings order will only help if the defendant (debtor) is employed.

Before you can ask the court to issue an attachment of earnings order the:

• defendant must be behind with at least one payment – called ‘being in arrears’
• amount the defendant owes you must be £50 or more

You must decide whether you are likely to get back the money owed and the court fee from the defendant. No court can guarantee that you will get your money back.

Ask for an attachment of earnings order

To ask for an attachment of earnings order you will need to complete form N337. You must give as much information as possible.

Who an attachment of earnings order can be made against

You can ask for an attachment order unless the defendant is:

• unemployed or self-employed
• a firm or a limited company
• in the army, navy or air force
• a merchant seaman

There are special arrangements for getting money from someone in the armed forces or a merchant seaman. Court staff will be able to give you more information but are unable to give you legal advice.

If you are not sure whether the defendant is employed

If you are not sure whether the defendant is employed, you can ask:

• for the defendant to be questioned, this is called an ‘order to obtain information’ and you will have to pay a fee to apply – find out how to apply for an order to obtain information

• the court local to the defendant to search the attachment of earnings index – the court will check whether the defendant has any other attachment of earnings orders against them, including any orders made by the magistrates’ court

Ask for a search of the attachment of earnings index

To ask for a search of the index you can either:

• complete the first part of form N336
• write a letter asking for the information, you must include the name and address of the defendant, your claim number and the date of your judgement

The court will either complete the rest of the form and send it to you, or write to you to tell you the result of the search. There is no fee for this.

The defendant has another attachment of earnings order

If the defendant already has an attachment of earnings order against them, your order may be joined with it to make a ‘consolidated order’.

Anyone involved in an attachment of earnings order (including the defendant’s employer) can ask for a consolidated order. The court can also decide to do this.

To ask for a consolidated order, you must write to the court and include:

• that the defendant is behind with their payments

• the amount that is owed to you

A consolidated order means that the employer will take one amount from the defendant’s wages to cover all the orders. Payments will be held at the court until the court has received a certain percentage of the total debt (usually 10%).

The court then divides this up according to the size of each debt between you and the other people who are owed money. They will then send you your share of this money. This is called ‘declaring a dividend’.

If a consolidated order is made, it usually means that you receive a smaller amount of money less frequently than you would under an ordinary attachment of earnings order.

If you do not want your order consolidated

If the court is asked to make a consolidated order it will let you know. If you object to a consolidated order being made, you must send a letter to the court within 16 days of the date of the postmark shown on the envelope that the notice came in.

The court will make an appointment and you will be told when to come to court. If you do not go, the district judge may make an order without you being there.

Fees

There is a court fee that must be paid when you apply for an attachment of earnings order. The court will add the fee to the amount the defendant already owes, however they cannot refund the fee if your application is not successful.

You can pay the fee either by:

• a debit or credit card payment – you must provide the court with your phone number and ask them to call you so that payment can be taken
• cheque or postal order – this must be made payable to ‘HM Courts and Tribunals Service’

If you cannot afford the fee, you may not have to pay it in full. You can find more information on how to apply for help with fees.

You can find out more about fees in the civil and family courts.

Where to send your form and the fee

You must send the completed form and the fee to:

Civil National Business Centre
St Katherine's House
21 to 27 St Katherine's Street
Northampton
NN1 2LH

You must put the claim number on your letter, otherwise the court cannot trace your claim.

If you receive any payments from the defendant after you have sent your request to the court, you must tell the court immediately.

After you have submitted your request

The court will tell the defendant to either:

• pay all the money owed
• fill in a form giving information about their employment, income and outgoings – this is a called a ‘statement of means’

If the defendant does not reply

If the defendant does not send the form back, the court will try to contact the defendant and get a statement of means.

An enforcement agent will serve an order telling the defendant to fill in a statement of means. If the defendant still does not return the form but the judge thinks the defendant knew about the attachment of earnings application, the judge may issue a warrant to arrest the defendant.

The enforcement agent will arrest the defendant and may bring them to court to fill in a statement of means.

If after 6 to 8 weeks you have not heard anything from the court, you should contact the local court named on the last notification you received about your application.

What the court will do with the statement of means

A court officer will look at the information given on the defendant’s statement of means and decide how much the defendant can afford to pay.

The officer will consider how much the defendant needs to live on for food, rent or mortgage, and essentials to pay regular bills such as electricity. This is called the ‘protected earnings rate’. If the defendant earns more than the protected earnings rate, an order will be made.

The order will be sent to the defendant’s employer and will state how much to take and when to take it. The order will be sent by the Centralised Attachment of Earnings Payment System (CAPS), which will be responsible for collecting payments. You will be sent a copy of the order.

The defendant can ask for the order to be suspended if they do not want the court to contact their employer. If the court agrees, they will tell the defendant to make regular payments direct to you.

If the defendant has a suspended order and does not pay, or pays and then stops, you can complete form N446 to ask the court to send the order to the employer. There is no fee for this.

Responding to the court officer’s decision

You do not have to accept the court officer’s decision. You can ask for a district judge to decide what would be a fair way for the defendant to pay the money.

To do this you will need to complete form N244. You may have to pay a fee.

You can also write a letter giving this information, but you must make sure you give the reasons for your objections.

You must send the form or letter to the county court hearing centre within 16 days of the date of the postmark shown on the envelope that the attachment of earnings order came in.

The court will make an appointment and you will be told when to come to court. If you do not go to this appointment, the district judge may make an order without you being there.

After the attachment of earnings order has been made

After the order is made, CAPS will send you any money they receive from the employer. They will send this weekly or monthly, depending on how the defendant is paid and when the employer takes the money from the defendant’s earnings.

CAPS will make sure the employer makes payments. If CAPS do not receive payments, they will find out why from the employer.

The most common reasons for not receiving payments are:

• the defendant has left or changed jobs
• the defendant is not earning enough for the payments to be made

If the employer does not reply, CAPS will ask the court that made the order to take action against the employer. You will be told if this happens.

If the defendant becomes unemployed after an order has been made, the order will stop (‘lapse’).

If you think that the defendant has found new work, you can complete form N446 to ask the court to send the attachment of earnings order to the new employer. There is no fee for this.