What is a Court Order?
A court order is a statutory deduction that an employer must take from their employee's pay if they receive an order to do so.
Common types of court orders
The following table shows common types of court orders, who issues them and why:
Court order type | Issued by | Reason for order |
Council Tax Attachment of Earnings Order (CTAEO) | Local council authority | Unpaid or underpaid council tax. |
Attachment of Earnings Order (CTAEO) | Local court authority | Unsettled debts or fines. |
Deduction from Earnings Order (DEO) | Child maintenance service | Child maintenance is deducted via payroll. |
Direct Earnings Attachment (DEA) | Department for Work & Pensions | Received overpayment of state benefits. |
Arrestment Order (Scotland only) | Local court authority | Unsettled debts or fines. |
Current Maintenance Arrestment (Scotland only) | Creditor | Unsettled debts or fines. |
Employer Responsibilities
As an employer, you're responsible for:
Deducting the court order from the next available payroll run.
Paying the issuing authority in line with the payment schedule provided.
Clearly showing the deduction on the employee's payslip.
Knowing how much to deduct
Each type of order includes the amount or percentage to be deducted, and what net earnings to apply the deduction to. You can use these to perform manual calculations. However, PayFit automatically calculates the correct earnings and rates for each court order deduction. Simply add the details of the court order and PayFit will calculate the monthly deductions due until the court order is paid in full.
Feature overview
✅ PayFit automatically calculates the deduction based on the court order information you add.
✅ You can add up to two active court orders per employee.
✅ If you don't agree with PayFit's calculation, you can change the order to a fixed amount (though this is discouraged unless you're trying to match previous payslips).
❌ Court order breakdowns aren't shown in the payslip breakdown. If you'd like to provide a calculation breakdown for the employee, please contact us.
❌ Court orders are 'cancelled', rather than disappearing once the court order has ended.
❌ Court orders can't be synced from your HR software.
Adding a court order
From the employee's record, click the Pay Items tab.
Click Enable more pay items.
Toggle on the Court orders option, then click Save.
Under the Court orders section, click Add court order.
Complete the relevant fields using the document issued to you by the court, then click Save.
The deduction amount is calculated automatically each month until either the total amount has been repaid, or the end date on the court order has been reached. The court order deduction appears on the employee's payslip
Paying the issuing authority
To check how much to pay to the issuing authorities:
From the left, choose Post-payroll checklist.
Under the Payments to make section, click Court orders.
The report displays any court orders, including the amount to pay and who to pay it to. This can also be downloaded as a PDF, CSV or Excel file.
FAQs
Can I deduct an admin fee for managing the employee's court order?
Yes, you can choose to deduct an additional £1 from your employee, for each court order, to cover administration costs. This shows separately on the employee's payslip. When setting up the court order, from the Admin fee drop-down, select £1.
What if my employee disputes their court order?
As an employer, if you receive a court order, you must action it in your next available payroll. If the employee disputes their court order, you should contact the issuing authority to confirm there are no further instructions advising you to stop any deductions.
Can I reduce the deduction if the employee is unable to afford it?
You have a legal obligation to fulfil each month's contribution in line with the order. The order provides a level of protected earnings, either in the percentages used, or if it's a fixed value, the protected earnings are provided by the court, and entered into PayFit. You must not reduce the deduction without first speaking to the issuing authority.