Attachment of Earnings Act 1971 in Scotland
1971 c. 32 · Enacted 12 May 1971 · Extends to United Kingdom
Contents
- 1AOrders to which this Act applies
- 12Termination of employer’s liability to make deductions.
- Special provisions with respect to magistrates’ courts
- 20Jurisdiction in respect of persons residing outside England and Wales.
- 26Transitional provision.
- 27Consequential amendment of enactments.
- 28. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Repealed
- 29Citation, repeal, extent and commencement.
- 1Paragraph 1
- 2Paragraph 2
- 3Paragraph 3
- 4Paragraph 4
- 6Paragraph 6 Repealed
- 9Paragraph 9
- 10Paragraph 10
- 12Paragraph 12
- Schedule 2: Taxes, social security contributions etc. relevant for purposes of section 3(6)
- 1Paragraph 1
- 2Paragraph 2 Repealed
- 4Paragraph 4 Repealed
- Schedule 3: Deductions by employer under attachment of earnings order
- Part I: Scheme of deductions
- Preliminary definitions
- 1Paragraph 1
- 2Paragraph 2
- 4Paragraph 4
- Employer’s deduction (judgment debts and administration orders)
- 5Paragraph 5
- 6AParagraph 6A
- Part II: Priority as between orders
- 7Paragraph 7
- 8Paragraph 8
- Schedule 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Schedule 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
- Schedule 5: Section 20 of Maintenance Orders Act 1958 as having effect in consequence of this Act
- 20Special provisions as to magistrates’ courts.
- Schedule 6Enactments Repealed
1AOrders to which this Act appliesF1
The following provisions of this Act apply, except where otherwise stated, to attachment of earnings orders made, or to be made, by any court under this Act or under Schedule 5 to the Courts Act 2003, or by a fines officer under that Schedule.
12Termination of employer’s liability to make deductions.
Where an attachment of earnings order ceases to have effect under section 8 or 11 of this Act, the proper officer of the prescribed court shall give notice of the cesser to the person to whom the order was directed.
Where, in the case of an attachment of earnings order made otherwise than to secure maintenance payments, the whole amount payable under the relevant adjudication has been paid, and also any relevant costs, the court shall give notice to the employer that no further compliance with the order is required.
Where an attachment of earnings order—
ceases to have effect under section 8 or 11 of this Act;
or
is discharged under section 9,
the person to whom the order has been directed shall be under no liability in consequence of his treating the order as still in force at any time before the expiration of seven days from the date on which the notice required by subsection (1) above or, as the case may be, a copy of the discharging order is served on him.
20Jurisdiction in respect of persons residing outside England and Wales.
It is hereby declared that F1the family court has jurisdiction to hear F2an application by or against a person residing outside England and Wales for the discharge or variation of an attachment of earnings order made by the family court to secure maintenance payments; and where such an application is made, the following provisions shall have effect.
If the person resides in Scotland or Northern Ireland, section 15 of the M1Maintenance Orders Act 1950 (which relates to the service of process on persons residing in those countries) shall have effect in relation to the F3application as it has effect in relation to the proceedings therein mentioned.
Subject to the following subsection, if the person resides outside the United Kingdom and does not appear at the time and place appointed for the hearing of the application, the court may, if it thinks it reasonable in all the circumstances to do so, proceed to hear and determine the application at the time and place appointed for the hearing, or for any adjourned hearing, in like manner as if the person had then appeared.
Subsection (3) above shall apply only if it is proved to the satisfaction of the court, on oath or in such other manner as may be prescribed, that the F4applicant has taken such steps as may be prescribed to give to the said person notice of the application and of the time and place appointed for the hearing of it.
26Transitional provision.
As from the appointed day, an attachment of earnings order made before that day under Part II of the M1Maintenance Orders Act 1958 (including an order made under that Part of that Act as applied by section 46 or 79 of the M2Criminal Justice Act 1967) shall take effect as an attachment of earnings order made under the corresponding power in this Act, and the provisions of this Act shall apply to it accordingly, so far as they are capable of doing so.
Rules of court may make such provision as the rule-making authority considers requisite—
for enabling an attachment of earnings order to which subsection (1) above applies to be varied so as to bring it into conformity, as from the appointed day, with the provisions of this Act, or to be replaced by an attachment of earnings order having effect as if made under the corresponding power in this Act;
to secure that anything required or authorised by this Act to be done in relation to an attachment of earnings order made thereunder is required or, as the case may be, authorised to be done in relation to an attachment of earnings order to which the said subsection (1) applies.
27Consequential amendment of enactments.
In consequence of the repeals effected by this Act, section 20 of the M1Maintenance Orders Act 1958 (which contains certain provisions about magistrates’ courts and their procedure), except subsection (6) of that section (which amends section 52(3) of the M2Magistrates’ Courts Act 1952), shall have effect as set out in Schedule 5 to this Act.
F1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
In section 95(4) of the M3Merchant Shipping Act 1970 (saving, in relation to fishermen’s wages, of provisions in Part II of the Administration of Justice Act 1970) for the words “Part II of the Administration of Justice Act 1970”there shall be substituted the words “ the Attachment of Earnings Act 1971 ”.
28. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .F1
29Citation, repeal, extent and commencement.
This Act may be cited as the Attachment of Earnings Act 1971.
The enactments specified in Schedule 6 to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule.
This Act, except section 20(2), does not extend to Scotland and, except sections 20(2) . . . F1 does not extend to Northern Ireland.
This Act shall come into force on the day appointed under section 54 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 for the coming into force of Part II of that Act.
1
An order for alimony, maintenance or other payments made, or having effect as if made, under Part II of the M1Matrimonial Causes Act 1965 (ancillary relief in actions for divorce etc.).
2
An order for payments to or in respect of a child, being an order made, or having effect as if made, under Part III of the said Act of 1965 (maintenance of children following divorce, etc.).
3F1
An order for periodical or other payments made, or having effect as if made, under Part II of the M1Matrimonial Causes Act 1973
4
6
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1
9C1
An order to which section 16 of the M1Maintenance Orders Act 1950 applies by virtue of subsection (2)(b) or (c) of that section (that is to say an order made by a court in Scotland or Northern Ireland and corresponding to one of those specified in the foregoing paragraphs) and which has been registered in a court in England and Wales under Part II of that Act.
10
A maintenance order within the meaning of the M1Maintenance Orders (Facilities for Enforcement) Act 1920 (Commonwealth orders enforceable in the United Kingdom) registered in, or confirmed by, a court in England and Wales under that Act.
12F1
An order under section 34(1)( b ) of the Children Act 1975 (payments of maintenance in respect of a child to his custodian).
1
Income tax or any other tax or liability recoverable under section 65, 66 or 68 of the M1Taxes Management Act 1970.
2
F1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1
1
The following three paragraphs have effect for defining and explaining, for purposes of this Schedule, expressions used therein.
2
“Pay-day”, in relation to earnings paid to a debtor, means an occasion on which they are paid.
4F1
On any pay-day—
“the normal deduction” is arrived at by applying the normal deduction rate (as specified in the relevant attachment of earnings order) with respect to the relevant period; and
“the protected earnings” are arrived at by applying the protected earnings rate (as so specified) with respect to the relevant period.
For the purposes of this paragraph the relevant period in relation to any pay-day is the period beginning—
if it is the first pay-day of the debtor’s employment with the employer, with the first pay day of the employment; or
if on the last pay-day earnings were paid in respect of a period falling wholly or partly after that pay-day, with the first day after the end of that period; or
in any other case, with the first day after the last pay-day, and ending—
where earnings are paid in respect of a period falling wholly or partly after the pay-day, with the last day of that period; or
in any other case, with the pay-day.
5
In the case of an attachment of earnings order made to secure the payment of a judgment debt or payments under an administration order, the employer shall on any pay-day—
if the attachable earnings exceed the protected earnings, deduct from the attachable earnings the amount of the excess or the normal deduction, whichever is the less;
make no deduction if the attachable earnings are equal to, or less than, the protected earnings.
6AF1
In the case of an attachment of earnings order made under Schedule 5 to the Courts Act 2003, the employer shall make deductions from the debtor's earnings in accordance with fines collection regulations made under that Schedule.
7
Where the employer is required to comply with two or more attachment of earnings orders in respect of the same debtor, all or none of which orders are made to secure either the payment of judgment debts or payments under an administration order, then on any pay-day the employer shall, for the purpose of complying with Part I of this Schedule,—
deal with the orders according to the respective dates on which they were made, disregarding any later order until an earlier one has been dealt with;
deal with any later order as if the earnings to which it relates were the residue of the debtor’s earnings after the making of any deduction to comply with any earlier order.
8
Where the employer is required to comply with two or more attachment of earnings orders, and one or more (but not all) of those orders are made to secure either the payment of judgment debts or payments under an administration order, then on any pay-day the employer shall, for the purpose of complying with Part I of this Schedule—
deal first with any order which is not made to secure the payment of a judgment debt or payments under an administration order (complying with paragraph 7 above if there are two or more such orders); and
deal thereafter with any order which is made to secure the payment of a judgment debt or payments under an administration order as if the earnings to which it relates were the residue of the debtor’s earnings after the making of any deduction to comply with an order having priority by virtue of sub-paragraph (a) above; and
if there are two or more orders to which sub-paragraph (b) above applies, comply with paragraph 7 above in respect of those orders.
Schedule 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .F1
20Special provisions as to magistrates’ courts.
Notwithstanding anything in this Act, the clerk of a magistrates’ court who is entitled to receive payments under a maintenance order for transmission to another person shall not apply for the registration of the maintenance order under Part I of this Act or give notice in relation to the order in pursuance of subsection (1) of section five thereof unless he is requested in writing to do so by a person entitled to receive the payments through him; and where the clerk is requested as aforesaid—
he shall comply with the request unless it appears to him unreasonable in the circumstances to do so;
the person by whom the request was made shall have the same liabilities for all the costs properly incurred in or about any proceedings taken in pursuance of the request as if the proceedings had been taken by that person.
An application to a magistrates’ court by virtue of subsection (2) of section four of this Act for the variation of a maintenance order shall be made by complaint.
For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that a complaint may be made to enforce payment of a sum due and unpaid under a maintenance order notwithstanding that a previous complaint has been made in respect of that sum or a part thereof and whether or not an order was made in pursuance of the previous complaint.
Schedule 6Enactments RepealedC1
| Chapter | Short Title | Extent of Repeal |
|---|---|---|
| 6 & 7 Eliz.2. c.39. | The Maintenance Orders Act 1958. | Section 9. In section 20, in subsection (1) the words “or Part II of the Administration of Justice Act 1970”, the word “or” at the end of paragraph (a), paragraphs (b) and (c) and the words from “and for the purposes” onwards; in subsection (2), the words “Subject to rules of court made by virtue of section 18(3)(c) of the Administration of Justice Act 1970”, and the words “and an application to a magistrates’ court for an attachment of earnings order, or an order discharging or varying an attachment of earnings order”; and subsections (3), (4), (5) and (7). In section 23(2), the words “except paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section 20”. |
| 1970 c.31. | The Administration of Justice Act 1970. | Sections 13 to 26. Section 27(1) and (2). In section 28— in subsection (1), the definitions of “Act of 1958”, “ administration order”, “the court”, “debtor”, “judgment debt”, “relevant adjudication”, “the employer”, “legal aid contribution order”, and the words from “maintenance payments’” onwards; and subsections (2) to (5). Section 29(1) to (4). Section 30(3) and (4). In section 53, the words “24 or”. In section 54(6), the words “and 27” and “7”. Schedules 5, 6 and 7. |
| 1970 c.55. | The Family Income Supplements Act 1970. | Section 14. |