Work out your take-home pay
Income tax, National Insurance and net pay for any UK salary, 2026-27.
An employer who receives an attachment of earnings order is legally required to start deducting from the next payday, and both the employer and the employee can be fined for failing to operate it or for giving false information about earnings [1]. The amount to deduct is never a round figure plucked from the order: it is calculated from a net earnings figure and a statutory percentage table, and for a council tax debt the deduction can reach 50% of the pay above a set band [2]. Getting that calculation wrong exposes the business to penalties, so understanding what an attachment of earnings calculator actually computes is a payroll compliance issue, not an optional extra.
The confusion comes from the fact that "attachment of earnings" is not one thing. A county court order for a civil debt, a Direct Earnings Attachment from the Department for Work and Pensions, a council tax attachment for unpaid local tax, and a child maintenance deduction from earnings order each use a different rule to arrive at the deduction. Some use a fixed amount stated on the order, some use a percentage table, and some cap the result against a protected proportion of pay.
This article sets out the net earnings figure that every calculation starts from, the different methods used by each type of order, the statutory deduction tables with their exact bands, and worked examples for each, so a payroll team can check any figure a calculator produces against the underlying rule.
Key takeaways
- Every attachment of earnings deduction starts from net earnings: pay after income tax, primary Class 1 National Insurance and pension contributions.
- Court orders for civil debt use a fixed "normal deduction rate" and a "protected earnings rate", both stated on the order itself.
- A Direct Earnings Attachment and a council tax attachment use statutory percentage tables that rise with earnings.
- A Direct Earnings Attachment is capped so total deductions never leave the employee with less than 60% of net earnings.
- An employer may deduct a further £1 from the employee each payday towards administrative costs on most order types.
What net earnings means
Every attachment of earnings calculation begins with the same figure, and it is not gross pay. Net earnings for these purposes are the earnings that remain after the deduction of income tax, primary Class 1 National Insurance contributions and pension contributions paid into an occupational or superannuation scheme [2]. For a Direct Earnings Attachment, the same figure is described as pay after tax, Class 1 National Insurance and workplace pension contributions [3]. Because overtime, bonus and commission all move that figure, the deduction can change from one payday to the next.
The definition of what counts as earnings in the first place is set by statute, and several pay elements sit outside it. Getting this boundary right is the difference between a compliant deduction and an unlawful one, which is why any HMRC-recognised payroll software applies the statutory earnings definition before it applies the table.
Pay that counts and pay that does not
For a court attachment of earnings order, deductions may be taken from wages, salary, fees, bonuses, commission, overtime, occupational pensions, compensation payments, Statutory Sick Pay and contractual sick, maternity, paternity, adoption or redundancy pay [4]. The list is deliberately wide, because the aim is to attach genuine income from the employment.
A separate list is expressly excluded. No deduction may be taken from a social security pension, allowance or benefit, from a disability pension or allowance, from a guaranteed minimum pension, or from statutory family payments such as Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay, Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay, Statutory Neonatal Care Pay or Statutory Redundancy Pay [4]. For a Direct Earnings Attachment the treatment is broadly the same, and government pensions are excluded because they are money the employee receives from the state rather than from the employer [5].
| Counts as earnings | Does not count as earnings |
|---|---|
| Wages, salary, fees, overtime | Social security benefits and allowances |
| Bonus and commission | Disability pensions and allowances |
| Occupational and private pensions | Statutory Maternity, Paternity, Adoption Pay |
| Statutory Sick Pay | Statutory Parental Bereavement and Neonatal Care Pay |
| Contractual sick, maternity, redundancy pay | Statutory Redundancy Pay |
Court orders: fixed amounts, not a table
A court attachment of earnings order recovers a civil debt such as a county court judgment, or unpaid maintenance or a fine [1]. The court sends the employer a document that already contains the two numbers the calculation needs: a normal deduction rate, which is the amount to take each payday, and a protected earnings rate, which is the amount the employee must always be left with [6]. There is no percentage table for these orders; the calculator simply applies the two figures on the order against actual net earnings.
The order will state whether it is a priority order or a non-priority order, and that label changes what happens when full pay cannot cover the deduction [1]. An employer may also take an extra £1 from the employee each payday towards administrative costs, provided that does not push the employee below the National Minimum Wage [6]. Accountants running this across dozens of schemes usually rely on a payroll bureau platform that stores the two rates against each employee and reapplies them automatically.
Priority orders carry the shortfall forward
A priority order is used for maintenance or fines. Where net earnings on a payday are not enough to take the full normal deduction while leaving the protected earnings rate intact, the employer deducts what it can and carries the unpaid difference forward to the next payday [6]. If earnings fall below the protected rate entirely, the shortfall in protected earnings is also carried forward and added to the protected rate next time [6].
The worked example on the official guidance shows the mechanism. On a payday with earnings of £170, a protected earnings rate of £150 and a normal deduction of £25, the employer can only take £20, sends £20 to the court, keeps £1, and carries the unpaid £5 forward; on the next payday of £190 it deducts £30 (the normal £25 plus the carried £5) [6]. The carry-forward is the defining feature of a priority order.
Non-priority orders do not carry forward
A non-priority order is used for a debt from a county court judgment [7]. The calculation looks similar, but the shortfall is treated differently: if the full deduction would take the employee below the protected earnings rate, the employer takes only what it can and does not carry the unpaid difference over to the next payday [7]. Where earnings are below the protected rate altogether, no deduction is made and the £1 administrative charge cannot be taken either [7].
When no deduction can be made, the employer must tell the Centralised Attachment of Earnings Payment System office by email, quoting the court case number, the order number, the employee name and the reason [7]. A calculator that models a non-priority order therefore has to know never to accumulate arrears across periods, which is the opposite of the priority rule above.
| Feature | Priority order | Non-priority order |
|---|---|---|
| Typical debt | Maintenance or fines | County court judgment |
| Deduction basis | Fixed normal deduction rate | Fixed normal deduction rate |
| Shortfall below protected rate | Carried forward to next payday | Not carried forward |
| £1 admin when no deduction possible | Not taken | Not taken |
Direct Earnings Attachment: a percentage table
A Direct Earnings Attachment (DEA) lets the Department for Work and Pensions recover a benefit overpayment or social fund debt directly from pay, without going to court [3]. Unlike a court order, it uses a percentage table applied to net earnings, and the DWP tells the employer whether to apply the standard rate or the higher rate when it sets the deduction up [3]. Where pay is made every two or four weeks, the employer works out weekly pay and applies the weekly band [3].
The DEA also carries a hard cap that the court orders do not. If a DEA deduction would take total deductions above 40% of net earnings, the DEA must be reduced so the employee keeps at least 60% of net earnings [3]. This 60% floor is a defining limit of the DEA calculation, and a fuller explanation of how it appears on a wage slip sits in the guide to what a DEA on a payslip means.
The standard DEA table
The standard rate rises in steps from 3% to a maximum of 20% of net earnings [3]. A monthly-paid employee with net earnings of £1,620 falls in the £1,615.01 to £2,240 band, so the deduction is 15%, or £243, before the 40% cap is checked [8]. Nothing is deducted at all where monthly net earnings are £430 or less [3].
| Deduction rate | Weekly net earnings | Monthly net earnings |
|---|---|---|
| Nil | £100 or less | £430 or less |
| 3% | £100.01 to £160 | £430.01 to £690 |
| 5% | £160.01 to £220 | £690.01 to £950 |
| 7% | £220.01 to £270 | £950.01 to £1,160 |
| 11% | £270.01 to £375 | £1,160.01 to £1,615 |
| 15% | £375.01 to £520 | £1,615.01 to £2,240 |
| 20% | More than £520 | More than £2,240 |
The higher DEA table
The DWP can instruct an employer to move to the higher rate, and it may switch an employee between standard and higher during the life of the attachment by letter [8]. The higher table runs from 5% up to a maximum of 40% of net earnings across the same bands [3]. The same £1,620 monthly figure would attract 30% under the higher table rather than 15%, which shows why the rate the DWP specifies matters as much as the earnings band.
| Deduction rate | Weekly net earnings | Monthly net earnings |
|---|---|---|
| 5% | £100 or less | £430 or less |
| 6% | £100.01 to £160 | £430.01 to £690 |
| 10% | £160.01 to £220 | £690.01 to £950 |
| 14% | £220.01 to £270 | £950.01 to £1,160 |
| 22% | £270.01 to £375 | £1,160.01 to £1,615 |
| 30% | £375.01 to £520 | £1,615.01 to £2,240 |
| 40% | More than £520 | More than £2,240 |
Council tax attachments: a steeper table
Local authorities collected £41.2 billion in council tax in England in the 2024 to 2025 year, yet £6.6 billion remained outstanding at 31 March 2025, an increase of 11.0% on the year before [9]. A council tax attachment of earnings order is one of the tools a billing authority uses to recover that arrears figure, and it applies its own percentage table under the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 [2]. The full mechanics sit in the dedicated guide to a council tax attachment of earnings order, but the calculation method belongs here alongside the others.
The council tax table is steeper than the DEA table at the top end, because once net earnings pass the highest band the deduction becomes a fixed percentage of the band plus 50% of everything above it [2]. An employer may take a further £1 for administrative costs each time a deduction is made, and can be required to operate up to two council tax orders at once, applying the later order to the pay that remains after the first [10].
The monthly council tax table
For a monthly-paid employee the deduction rate runs from nil on net earnings of £300 or less up to 17% on the band between £1,420.01 and £2,020, with a 50% marginal rate above £2,020 [2]. A monthly net figure of £1,000 falls in the £900.01 to £1,420 band, giving a 12% deduction of £120 before the £1 charge [2]. These bands apply to orders made after 1 April 2007 [2].
| Monthly net earnings | Deduction rate |
|---|---|
| Not exceeding £300 | Nil |
| £300.01 to £550 | 3% |
| £550.01 to £740 | 5% |
| £740.01 to £900 | 7% |
| £900.01 to £1,420 | 12% |
| £1,420.01 to £2,020 | 17% |
| Over £2,020 | 17% on the first £2,020, then 50% of the remainder |
The weekly council tax table
The weekly table mirrors the monthly one on a smaller scale, from nil on £75 or less up to 17% on the band between £355.01 and £505, then 50% above £505 [2]. Where an employee is paid at some other regular interval, the regulations require the employer to convert pay to a notional weekly or daily figure, read the matching table, and scale the result back up [2].
| Weekly net earnings | Deduction rate |
|---|---|
| Not exceeding £75 | Nil |
| £75.01 to £135 | 3% |
| £135.01 to £185 | 5% |
| £185.01 to £225 | 7% |
| £225.01 to £355 | 12% |
| £355.01 to £505 | 17% |
| Over £505 | 17% on the first £505, then 50% of the remainder |
Child maintenance orders: a protected proportion
A deduction from earnings order for child maintenance, operated by the Child Maintenance Service, works on a different principle again. Rather than a rising percentage table, it combines a normal deduction rate set by the service with a protected earnings proportion, and the employer must always leave the employee with at least 60% of net earnings for the period [11]. The protected figure is expressed as a percentage and recalculated every payday, so it moves with earnings rather than staying fixed [11].
Where more than one order applies to the same employee, the sequence in which they are taken matters, and an employer must know which order ranks first before applying any table [12]. A child maintenance deduction and a Direct Earnings Attachment can both be capped by their own 60% protected floor, so when they run together the calculation has to test the combined effect on take-home pay, not each order in isolation [12]. This is where an in-house spreadsheet most often fails, and where an HMRC-recognised payroll API that sequences orders by priority removes the manual risk.
Where a calculator helps and where it does not
An attachment of earnings calculator is only ever as good as the figure fed into it, and the figure is net earnings, not gross. Before any table or fixed rate is applied, the employer has to strip out income tax, National Insurance and pension contributions and confirm which pay elements count as earnings at all. An employer can size the underlying take-home figure with the Moonworkers UK salary calculator, which applies the current PAYE and National Insurance rules to any gross salary and gives the net figure the attachment then works from.
£ per month
e.g. 1257L, S1257L, BR, D0
S = Scotland · C = Wales · W1/M1 = non-cumulative
Enter a salary or hourly rate above
About this calculator
This calculator gives you a close estimate of your UK payroll deductions for 2026-27, using HMRC's exact percentage method with periodised thresholds. It handles the three tax territories, K codes with the 50% regulatory limit and its carry-forward, weeks 53, 54 and 56, the cumulative and W1/M1/X bases, student and postgraduate loans, and pension contributions on qualifying earnings. It still won't match your payslip to the penny in every case: it does not cover in-year tax code changes, payrolled benefits in kind, NI deferral across more than one employment, directors on the annual earnings period, or employer-level annual adjustments such as the Employment Allowance and the apprenticeship levy. Powered by the same engine as the Moonworkers Payroll API.
Frequently asked questions
Why might the result differ from my payslip?
This calculator uses your current gross pay and tax code to produce an estimate. K-code carry-forwards and weeks 53, 54 and 56 are handled, and the Year-to-date section reproduces a specific period exactly. What your employer may apply that this does not: a mid-year tax code change, benefits in kind processed through payroll, or NI deferral across more than one employment. For most employees on a standard tax code the difference is negligible.
What tax code should I enter?
Use the tax code shown on your most recent payslip or the PAYE Coding Notice (P2) from HMRC. If you're not sure, 1257L is the standard code for most employees resident in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland. Use S1257L for Scotland or C1257L for Wales if you pay Scottish or Welsh income tax.
Which NI category applies to me?
Most employees use Category A. Use M if you are under 21, H if you are an apprentice under 25, or C if you are over State Pension age. Your employer is responsible for assigning the correct category — if in doubt, check your payslip.
Which student loan plan am I on?
Your plan depends on when and where you studied. Plan 1 covers students who started before September 2012. Plan 2 is for English and Welsh students who started from September 2012 to July 2023. Plan 5 applies to English students who started from August 2023. Plan 4 covers Scottish students. You can check your plan at gov.uk or on your payslip.
What is the YTD cumulative PAYE mode?
HMRC's standard method calculates income tax on your total earnings to date each period, then subtracts tax already paid. If you're mid-year and want to see exactly what tax should be deducted in a specific period, expand the Year-to-date section and enter your running totals from previous periods only.
Sole traders and very small employers running a single scheme can operate most orders by hand once they understand the rule, and the guide to payroll for one-person businesses covers the wider obligations. The point at which a calculator stops being enough is when multiple orders overlap, when an employee moves between pay frequencies, or when a priority order starts accumulating arrears, because those are the cases where the sequence and the carry-forward logic decide the answer.
Conclusion
The single idea that ties every attachment of earnings order together is that the deduction is a function of net earnings, and the method attached to each order type decides how that function behaves. Court orders apply two fixed figures and differ only in how they treat a shortfall. Direct Earnings Attachments and council tax orders apply rising percentage tables, with the council tax table biting hardest at the top through its 50% marginal band. Child maintenance orders protect a proportion of pay rather than capping a percentage.
The practical lesson for any payroll team is that a calculator answers the arithmetic but not the compliance question. Knowing which table applies, which pay counts as earnings, and how two orders interact is what keeps the business clear of the fines that attach to a mishandled deduction. As more employers automate payroll through embedded compliance engines, the calculation itself moves into software, and the payroll team's role shifts to confirming the order type and the earnings definition that the software then applies.
Frequently asked questions
How is the deduction on an attachment of earnings order calculated?
It depends on the order type. A court order applies a fixed normal deduction rate and a protected earnings rate stated on the order [6]. A Direct Earnings Attachment and a council tax attachment apply a percentage table to net earnings, and a child maintenance order applies a normal deduction rate capped so the employee keeps at least 60% of net earnings [3]. Every method starts from net earnings after tax, National Insurance and pension.
What is the maximum that can be deducted from wages?
For a Direct Earnings Attachment the deduction is capped so the employee keeps at least 60% of net earnings, meaning no more than 40% can be taken in total [3]. A council tax order can take more than that on very high earnings, because above the top band it applies 50% to the excess on top of the band percentage [2]. Court orders are limited instead by the protected earnings rate on the order.
Can an employer charge for operating an attachment of earnings order?
Yes, on most order types an employer may deduct a further £1 from the employee each time it makes a deduction, towards administrative costs [6]. The £1 cannot be taken where it would push the employee below the National Minimum Wage, and on a non-priority court order it cannot be taken on a payday when no deduction is possible [7].
What happens if the employee does not earn enough for the full deduction?
On a priority court order the unpaid difference is carried forward and added to the next payday's deduction [6]. On a non-priority court order the shortfall is not carried forward, and the employer must email the CAPS office if no deduction can be made [7]. For a Direct Earnings Attachment, the 60% protected floor reduces the deduction rather than creating arrears [3].
