Reading Borough Council is responsible for recovering money owed to it in respect of debts arising under the Social Security Administration Act 1992. From April 2013, Local Authorities have been given the power to recover overpaid Housing Benefit by deductions from earnings without the need to apply for a court order. This is done by using Direct Earnings Attachments (or DEA).
Local Authorities were given this power by The Social Security (Overpayments and Recovery) Regulations 2013. The full regulations can be found on this website – http://www.legislation.gov.uk
Not everyone enters into a voluntary repayment agreement. DEAs give us the opportunity to recover overpaid benefits from debtors who are employed if they either refuse to repay, are unable to agree an acceptable repayment plan or who have defaulted on a voluntary repayment arrangement.
You have a legal obligation to do so unless you are a new business (i.e. started trading within the current financial year), or a micro business (having fewer than 10 employees). In such cases you are not obliged to operate a DEA although you may do so if this is agreed with your employee. If you fail to comply with your duties, you could be subject, on conviction, to a fine of up to £1000.
As this is a new procedure, it may be that your computerised system has not yet been updated to deal with DEAs. The Department for Work and Pensions is currently working with the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals, Employer Representatives and Payroll Software providers in order to develop the right long term solution but until your software is changed, you will also need to follow the instructions below as well as the general guidance in this document. Once your system is updated, the information on this first page may no longer be needed.
Until your software is updated, if you are using a computerised payroll system and you receive a request to set up a DEA you will need to:
If, after reading through this guidance, you still have unanswered queries, please telephone the Customer Contact Team on 0118 937 3707.
A DEA has its own regulations which follow some of the workings of a Deduction from Earnings Order (DEO) and some workings of an Attachment of Earnings Order (AEO). A DEA does not replace any of these other orders and you may still receive requests to implement deductions for a DEO or AEO for your employees.
As an employer, you have a legal obligation to:
If you fail to comply with your duties, you could be subject, on conviction, to a fine of up to £1000.
a) You have a duty to notify us if:
You must write to us at the address shown on this letter within 10 days if any of the above applies to you. You should also let us know if your business ceases trading.
b) You have a duty to notify your employee in writing of:
You must do this (and record it) no later than the payday after the one on which the deduction for the DEA was taken.
This letter (officially called a notice) tells you to apply a DEA for your employee and gives you the information you will need in order to apply it. This includes:
You will need to check that your employee earns enough to allow a deduction to be made. If he/she does, you then calculate how much to take from their earnings using the information provided by the Council and make the deductions.
Once you have taken the money, you must pay it over to the Council within set time limits. We will ask you to make payments in line with your payroll, so if your employee is paid weekly or monthly, you should pay us at the same time.
However if your employee is paid weekly you must still calculate and deduct the payment every week, but you can pay us 4 weekly if you prefer. Please let us know if you will be doing this by 0118 937 3707.
It is your responsibility to ensure you take the right amount from your employee’s earnings each week or month and pay it to us.
| What counts as ‘earnings’ for DEAs | What does not count as ‘earnings’ for DEAs |
|---|---|
| Wages | Statutory Maternity Pay |
| Salary | Statutory Adoption Pay |
| Fees | Ordinary Statutory Paternity Pay |
| Bonuses | Additional Statutory Paternity Pay |
| Commission | Any pension, benefit, allowance or credit paid by DWP, a local authority or HMRC |
| Overtime pay | A guaranteed minimum pension under the Pensions Scheme Act 1993 |
| Most other payments on top of wages | Amounts paid by a public department of the Government of Northern Ireland or anywhere outside the United Kingdom |
| Occupational Pensions, if paid with wages or salary | Sums paid to reimburse expenses wholly and necessarily incurred in the course of the Employment |
| Periodic payments by way of compensation for the loss, abolition or relinquishment, or
diminution in the emoluments, of any office or employment |
Pay or allowances as a member of Her Majesty’s forces, other than pay or
allowances payable to them by you as a special member of a reverse force |
| Statutory Sick Pay | Lump sum redundancy payments and pay in lieu of notice |
If the only earnings your employee receives are those in the right hand column, you cannot calculate a DEA deduction. Similarly, if any of these are paid as part of the earnings, they are not to be included as part of the employee’s net earnings.
You must take the amount for the Direct Earnings Attachment directly from your employee’s net earnings. Net earnings are the earnings left after deduction of:
| Amount of net earnings | Deduction (Percent of net earnings) |
|---|---|
| Less than £100 | Nil |
| Exceeding £100 but not exceeding £160 | 3% |
| Exceeding £160 but not exceeding £220 | 5% |
| Exceeding £220 but not exceeding £270 | 7% |
| Exceeding £270 but not exceeding £375 | 11% |
| Exceeding £375 but not exceeding £520 | 15% |
| Exceeding £520 | 20% |
| Amount of net earnings | Deduction (Percent of net earnings) |
|---|---|
| Less than £430 | Nil |
| Exceeding £430 but not exceeding £690 | 3% |
| Exceeding £690 but not exceeding £950 | 5% |
| Exceeding £950 but not exceeding £1,160 | 7% |
| Exceeding £1,160 but not exceeding £1,615 | 11% |
| Exceeding £1,615 but not exceeding £2,240 | 15% |
| Exceeding £2,240 | 20% |
Please note: the total of all deductions (the DEA plus any other deductions in place) cannot leave the employee with less than the protected earnings proportion, which is 60% of their total net earnings during the calculating period to which the deduction relates.
If an employee is paid 2 weekly, the total net wage is divided by 2 and table A is used to check the percentage rate.
If an employee is paid 4 weekly, the total net wage is divided by 4 and table A is used to check the percentage rate.
NB: Do not leave an employee with less than 60% of their total net earnings.
If an employee is paid a wage which includes holiday pay paid in advance, the net wage is averaged, and the percentage rate applied to the average figure. For example:
The employee received one weeks wage and 2 weeks holiday pay. Total net payment for 3 weeks = £850.
Total deduction from the net wage for 3 weeks of £850 = £93.51 (£31.17 x 3).
The exact amount of the net wage is used against table A & B. If the percentage amount calculated results in a fraction of a penny, it is rounded to the nearest whole penny, with a result of exactly half a penny being rounded down to the nearest whole penny below, as follows:
For each pay period when you calculate the DEA deduction, you may also take up to £1 from your employee’s earnings towards administrative costs. You can take this even if it reduces the employee’s income below the protected earnings proportion.
If you fail to take a deduction from the employee’s net earnings when you should have or take an incorrect amount you should correct this on the next payday or paydays.
Where the incorrect amount is because the deduction was less that the amount specified under the regulations then you should first;
Where the incorrect amount is because the deduction was more than the amount specified under the regulations then you should first;
It is important to note that if a deduction is reduced in any week or month simply because the DEA along with any other orders in place will breach the protected earnings limit of 60% this is NOT considered a shortfall as described above.
A shortfall only occurs when an incorrect amount has been deducted in error, or where one or more deductions have been missed.
Please also note that the total to be deducted, including adjustments for an incorrect deduction, along with other deductions in place, must not leave the employee with less than the protected earnings limit of 60% for each pay period.
Courts can make orders that mean you must take money directly from your employee’s earnings in a similar way to how we ask you to make deductions for a DEA. For example, your employee may have an Attachment of Earnings Order (England & Wales) or a Deduction from Earnings Order (for Child Maintenance). The DEA can be imposed without a court order, but if your employee has any other deduction orders against them there are rules that tell you which money you should take first.
If your employee has one or more of the following in place, they will take priority over a DEA:
A student loan repayment also takes priority over a DEA. This applies to both England & Wales and Scotland.
Once these priority orders have been taken into account in your calculation a DEA will then take priority in relation to other orders or notices in date order(in Scotland this will be the date they were received). The amount you can deduct will be subject to the available net earnings above the protected earnings limit of 60% of net earnings.
If the weekly or monthly earnings are below the threshold (see table A & B) you cannot calculate a DEA deduction.
You must tell the Council why a deduction cannot be made by using a Direct Earnings Attachment payments schedule.
You must continue to calculate whether a DEA deduction can be made, each pay period until either we tell you to stop or your employee leaves your employment.
If your employee thinks that the amount of money they owe is wrong, you should advise them to urgently contact the Benefits Debt Recovery Team on the telephone number at the top of the letter they received about the Direct Earnings Attachment.
If they think that the amount you have calculated is too much, you should first check that the amount being deducted is correct according to table A or B, on the basis of their earnings and other orders in place. If the amount is correct, you should explain that you have made the deduction as instructed to do so. If they feel that this is too much for them to manage, you should advise them to contact us.
Once you have started operating a DEA, you must continue to make payments to us until we tell you to stop or you have deducted the maximum amount that needs to be recovered from the earnings. We would contact you if the amount deducted should change.
If there is a change of circumstances which means that you can no longer operate the DEA, you must notify is in writing within 10 days of that change happening. In the first instance though, please telephone us to let us know as we may be able to speed up the administration process.
If you need to tell us about a change like this, please telephone the Customer Contact Service Team on 0118 37 3707 or e-mail us at Benefits@reading.gov.uk
On receipt of a notice to operate a DEA, you must:
For example, if you take the money on 30th September, you must send it to us before 19th October. If you take the money on 1st October, you must send it to us before 19th November.
This is our preferred method of payment, because of its security and quick clearance times. When setting up a payment by this method, you will need the following information:
If the payment is for one employee, enter the employees invoice number. If the payment covers multiple employees, you will need to send multiple payments quoting each individual invoice number to ensure payments are allocated correctly.
If you are paying by BACS, you will need to send a Direct Earnings Attachment payment schedule to us so we know who the payment refers to.
If you need to pay by cheque, please make it payable to ‘Reading Borough Council’ and write the employee’s LA invoice number on the back of the cheque.
Please send the cheque to: Reading Borough Council, Civic Offices, Bridge Street, Reading, RG1 2LU.
If you are paying by cheque, you will need to attach a Direct Earnings Attachment payment schedule to the cheque so we know who the payment refers to.
If your bank offers a bill paying facility and you wish to make a payment using the telephone/internet banking/automated credit transfer, use the bank account details above.
For payments by BACS (Automated Credit Transfer) or cheque you must send us a Direct Earnings Attachment payments schedule. A blank schedule for you to use copy as many times as you need has been included in this document leaflet. The Direct Earnings Attachment payments schedule must include the following details for each person for whom you were asked to make deductions from earnings:
The amount of the automated credit transfer or cheque must be the same as the total amount of deductions shown on the Direct Earnings Attachment payments schedule. Please do not send cash through the post.
If you prefer, you can e-mail an electronic copy of the schedule to us at bankrec@reading.gov.uk and the payment can follow. Please include ‘DEA notice’ in the subject of your e-mail.
A person with net earnings of £385 per week will have a deduction of £57.75 per week (in accordance with the deduction rates table at 15%
A person with net earnings of £250 per week with an existing attachment order of £60 per week for child maintenance will have a deduction of £17.50 (in accordance with the deduction table at 7%)
A person with net earnings of £1620 per month should have a DEA deduction of £243 (in accordance with the deduction table at 15%). However, this deduction in addition to the existing deductions of £486, will breach the protected earnings limit of 60%. The maximum deduction we can make in this instance would be £162.
Earnings x 40% = £648 (maximum amount for total deductions)
Existing priority attachment order in place = £486
DEA deduction = £243
£648 – £486 = £162 (maximum amount available for the DEA deduction)
Therefore, although the deduction rates table states that a deduction of £243 should be taken, the protected earnings limit means that the amount will be restricted to £162.
If you need more information about, or help to operate a Direct Earnings Attachment, please ring Reading Borough Council Customer Service Team on 0118 937 3707.
We will be happy to discuss any questions you may have.