An attachment of earnings order never takes everything. A direct earnings attachment run at the standard rate deducts between 3% and 20% of net earnings once pay passes the threshold, and the higher rate runs from 5% up to a hard ceiling of 40% ([1]). Whatever the order, the deduction must leave the employee with their protected earnings, and it can never push take-home below the National Minimum Wage ([2]).
The amount an order can take is one of the most common questions employers and employees ask, and the honest answer is that it depends on the type of order and the size of the pay packet. A court attachment of earnings order works differently from a benefit-debt direct earnings attachment, which works differently again from a child maintenance deduction and a Scottish earnings arrestment.
This guide sets out how much each type of order can take, the percentage tables that govern the benefit-debt attachments, the protected earnings floor that caps every deduction, and what happens when more than one order competes for the same wages.
Key takeaways
- Every attachment leaves the employee with protected earnings; for benefit-debt and child maintenance orders this is 60% of net earnings.
- A direct earnings attachment deducts 3% to 20% of net pay at the standard rate and 5% to 40% at the higher rate, on a banded scale.
- A court attachment of earnings order uses a normal deduction rate and protected earnings rate both stated in the order, not a fixed percentage.
- No deduction can ever take an employee below the National Minimum Wage, whatever the order says.
- Priority orders carry any shortfall forward to the next payday; non-priority orders do not.
- When several orders apply, they are stacked in priority sequence while the combined total still respects protected earnings.
The protected earnings floor: the real answer to "how much"
Before any percentage or table, one principle governs every attachment: the employee keeps their protected earnings. For a direct earnings attachment (DEA) and a child maintenance deduction from earnings order, protected earnings is fixed at 60% of net earnings, so the combined deductions can never exceed 40% of net pay ([3]). For a court attachment of earnings order, the protected earnings rate is a cash figure written into the order itself ([4]).
Net earnings, for these calculations, means pay after Income Tax, Class 1 National Insurance and pension or superannuation contributions ([5]). It is not gross pay, and it is not take-home after every voluntary deduction. Getting the net earnings figure right is the first step, because every percentage and every protected floor is measured against it.
The 40% ceiling in practice
The 60% protected earnings rule produces a practical ceiling. Where adding a DEA would push total deductions above 40% of net wages, the DEA must be reduced so the employee is still left with 60% ([6]). This applies even where the deduction was calculated as a fixed amount. The floor always wins over the headline figure.
There is a further layer where other orders already exist. If existing deductions have already brought net pay at or below 60% of the original net figure, no DEA is taken that period at all, though the employer must still check every subsequent payday and report the nil deduction ([7]). This interaction between orders is where manual payroll most often goes wrong, and where an HMRC-recognised payroll platform earns its place by applying the floor automatically.
How much a direct earnings attachment takes
A direct earnings attachment is issued by the Department for Work and Pensions to recover benefit overpayments, and it is the one attachment that uses published percentage tables ([8]). The DWP tells the employer whether to apply the standard rate or the higher rate, and the employer reads the deduction percentage off the band that matches the employee's net earnings for the pay period ([9]).
The standard rate table
At the standard rate, nothing is deducted until monthly net earnings pass £430 (or £100 a week), and the percentage climbs through bands to a maximum of 20% on the highest earnings ([10]). The table below shows the full standard-rate scale by weekly and monthly net earnings ([11]).
| Weekly net earnings | Monthly net earnings | Deduction rate |
|---|---|---|
| Up to £100 | Up to £430 | Nil |
| £100.01 to £160 | £430.01 to £690 | 3% |
| £160.01 to £220 | £690.01 to £950 | 5% |
| £220.01 to £270 | £950.01 to £1,160 | 7% |
| £270.01 to £375 | £1,160.01 to £1,615 | 11% |
| £375.01 to £520 | £1,615.01 to £2,240 | 15% |
| £520.01 or more | £2,240.01 or more | 20% |
The percentage applies to the whole of net earnings, not just the slice above a threshold. An employee with £2,000 net monthly earnings at the standard rate falls in the 15% band, so the deduction is 15% of £2,000, or £300 ([12]). This whole-of-earnings approach means a small rise in pay that crosses a band boundary can lift the deduction by more than the pay rise itself, a quirk employers should be ready to explain to staff.
A weekly worked example makes the banding concrete. An employee paid £400 net a week at the standard rate sits in the £375.01 to £520 band, giving a 15% deduction of £60, so £340 reaches the employee before the £1 administrative charge ([13]). The same employee moved to the higher rate would fall in the 30% band, lifting the deduction to £120, still comfortably within the 60% protected floor of £240 ([14]). Small businesses running this by hand can find the band lookups fiddly, which is one reason many move to dedicated payroll software for SMEs.
The higher rate table
The higher rate starts deducting from the first pound of net earnings and rises to a ceiling of 40% ([13]). It is used when the DWP escalates recovery, and the same banded structure applies ([14]).
| Weekly net earnings | Monthly net earnings | Deduction rate |
|---|---|---|
| Up to £100 | Up to £430 | 5% |
| £100.01 to £160 | £430.01 to £690 | 6% |
| £160.01 to £220 | £690.01 to £950 | 10% |
| £220.01 to £270 | £950.01 to £1,160 | 14% |
| £270.01 to £375 | £1,160.01 to £1,615 | 22% |
| £375.01 to £520 | £1,615.01 to £2,240 | 30% |
| £520.01 or more | £2,240.01 or more | 40% |
Even at the top of the higher-rate table, the 40% figure is not a licence to take 40% regardless. The 60% protected earnings rule still overrides it, so once the deduction plus any other orders would breach the floor, the amount is trimmed back ([15]). The payslip must show the employee the amount taken and how it was worked out ([16]), which is one reason accurate payslip generation matters as much as the deduction itself.
How much a court attachment of earnings order takes
A court attachment of earnings order (AEO) is a different mechanism. Rather than a percentage table, the court sets two cash figures in the order: a normal deduction rate (the amount to take each payday) and a protected earnings rate (the amount the employee must be left with) ([17]). The employer deducts the normal rate as long as doing so leaves at least the protected earnings rate ([18]).
The worked mechanics are simple. If earnings are £190, the protected earnings rate is £150 and the normal deduction is £25, the employer takes the £25, keeps £1 for administration, and pays the employee £164 ([19]). If earnings dip so that the full £25 would breach the £150 floor, the employer takes only what the floor allows ([20]).
Priority versus non-priority orders
Whether a shortfall is recovered later depends on the order's priority status. Priority orders are used for unpaid maintenance and fines; non-priority orders are used for county court judgment debts ([21]). The difference decides how much the order ultimately takes over time.
Under a priority order, any shortfall between the normal deduction and what could actually be taken is carried forward and added to the next payday's deduction ([22]). Under a non-priority order, a shortfall is not carried forward: the employer simply reverts to the normal deduction next time and the missed amount is not clawed back later ([23]).
| Feature | Priority order | Non-priority order |
|---|---|---|
| Typical debt | Maintenance, fines | County court judgment |
| Amount per payday | Normal deduction rate in the order | Normal deduction rate in the order |
| Shortfall when pay is low | Carried forward to next payday | Not carried forward |
| Protected earnings | Rate stated in the order | Rate stated in the order |
Accountants running these orders across several client payrolls need to track the carry-forward balances precisely, which is why a payroll bureau platform records each order's status and running total rather than relying on spreadsheets.
Child maintenance and Scottish orders
A deduction from earnings order for child maintenance takes whatever the Child Maintenance Service sets, capped by the same 60% protected earnings floor as a DEA ([24]). If the full maintenance amount would breach that floor, the employer deducts up to the floor and carries the difference forward to the next payday ([25]). The underlying maintenance figure is a percentage of the paying parent's gross weekly income, but the employer only ever sees the amount to collect.
Scotland uses a separate system called earnings arrestment, governed by Schedule 2 of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987 ([26]). Instead of a percentage of net pay, a statutory table sets the deduction by earnings band, and a protected minimum amount sits beneath which nothing can be taken. The Diligence against Earnings (Variation) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 raised that protected minimum and adjusted the table bandings from 6 April 2025 ([27]). An employer with staff in Scotland applies the Scottish table, not the DWP percentage rates.
The administrative charge and the minimum wage floor
Across order types, the employer may keep £1 per deduction towards its administrative costs ([28]). This is per payday, not per order, and it is the only slice the employer keeps. The £1 can be taken even if it dips the employee below their protected earnings rate, but never below the National Minimum Wage ([29]).
The minimum wage is the outer limit that overrides every calculation. No attachment, whatever its table or stated amount, may leave an employee earning below the statutory minimum for the hours worked ([30]). Enforcing that ceiling automatically on every payrun is exactly the kind of rule a compliance-first payroll engine is designed to guarantee.
When several orders apply at once
An employee can face more than one order, and the total taken is not simply the sum of each. Orders are applied in a set priority sequence, and each is tested against the protected earnings floor before the next is added ([31]). Once the floor is reached, lower-priority orders take nothing that period.
The order of precedence and the carry-forward rules mean the same two orders can produce different totals from one payday to the next, depending on how much the employee earned. This is why "how much can be taken" has no single answer even for one employee: it is recalculated every payday against that period's net earnings and the live status of every order in force ([32]).
Conclusion
The amount an attachment of earnings can take is bounded on every side. A direct earnings attachment is capped by its percentage band and by the 40% ceiling that the 60% protected earnings floor creates. A court order is capped by the protected earnings rate written into it. A child maintenance deduction is capped by the same 60% floor, and a Scottish arrestment by its statutory protected minimum. Underneath them all sits the National Minimum Wage, which no deduction may breach.
For an employer, the practical takeaway is that the headline percentage is only the starting point. The real deduction is whatever survives the protected earnings test for that pay period, adjusted for any competing orders and any carried-forward shortfall. Recalculating that correctly every payday, for every affected employee, is the difference between compliant payroll and a fine.
Frequently asked questions
What is the maximum an attachment of earnings order can take?
For a direct earnings attachment or a child maintenance deduction, the maximum is set by the 60% protected earnings floor, so total deductions can never exceed 40% of net earnings ([33]). A court attachment of earnings order is instead capped by the protected earnings rate written into the order. In every case, no deduction may take the employee below the National Minimum Wage.
How is the deduction percentage worked out for a direct earnings attachment?
The DWP tells the employer whether to use the standard rate or the higher rate, and the employer matches the employee's net earnings to the correct band in the relevant table ([34]). The percentage applies to the whole net earnings figure. The standard rate runs from 3% to 20% and the higher rate from 5% to 40%.
Can an attachment of earnings leave someone with nothing to live on?
No. Every order protects a portion of pay, and no deduction may reduce take-home below the National Minimum Wage for the hours worked ([35]). If earnings are below the protected earnings rate for a period, no deduction is taken that payday.
What happens if an employee has more than one attachment of earnings order?
The orders are applied in priority sequence, and each is tested against the protected earnings floor before the next is added ([36]). Once the floor is reached, lower-priority orders take nothing that period. Priority orders carry any shortfall forward to the next payday, while non-priority orders do not.
