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If you don't pay your council tax

6.Council tax Attachment of Earnings Orders (CTAEO) for employers

On this page:

    What is a council tax Attachment of Earnings Order (CTAEO)?

    A council tax Attachment of Earnings Order (CTAEO) lets the council, as a billing authority, collect unpaid council tax straight from an employee’s wages.

    We take a set percentage from their take home pay, as set out in council tax legislation.

    If we decide this is the right way to collect the debt, we will:

    • send the order to the employer we believe employs the person who owes the council tax
    • send a copy of the order to the person who owes the debt.

    The order will include the council tax Attachment of Earnings Order deduction tables that show how much must be taken.

    As the employer, you must make deductions on each pay day until:

    • the full amount on the order has been paid, or
    • we tell you the order has ended.
    Please note

    Information for employees can be found on the recovery action and additional charges page.


    What you must do as an employer

    A CTAEO is a legal order. As the employer, you can be fined if you do not follow it.

    You may be fined if you:

    • do not do what the order says, unless you can show you did everything you reasonably could to follow it
    • do not send all the notices you are required to send about the CTAEO
    • send information that you know is wrong
    • send information that is wrong, but you did not check it.

    Start deductions

    You should:

    • start deductions from the employee's net earnings as soon as possible after you receive the order
    • pay the deducted amount to the council by the 19th day of the month after the deduction was made.

    Telling your employee

    You must tell your employee, in writing:

    • the amount of each deduction
    • either the total of the deductions so far, or
    • the amount still left to pay.

    You can include this on their pay statements.

    If you do not usually give pay statements you must write to them as soon as possible after making the deduction.

    Please note

    You can take £1 from the employee’s wages each time you make a CTAEO deduction to cover your administration costs. You must tell your employee if you have taken money for your administration costs.

    If the person does not work for you

    You must tell us within 14 days of receiving the order if the person named in the order:

    • does not work for you, or
    • has left your employment.

    You are then no longer responsible for administering the order.

    If they move to a new employer, we will send the order to the new employer. The order will show the amount still to be paid.

    Further information

    If you need guidance or advice about a CTAEO, please email the council tax recovery team:

    Email recovery@eastriding.gov.uk

    How to pay the council

    You can send the council a payment for:

    • each single deduction, or
    • the combined total of multiple orders for more than one employee.

    With every payment, you must send a schedule. The schedule must show:

    • the account reference number shown on the relevant CTAEO
    • the court date shown at the start of the letter, if there is more than one deduction for the same account reference.

    This helps us credit the payment to the correct debt and avoids delays or follow-up queries. We are not responsible for payments sent without a schedule.

    You do not need to list the active CTAEOs where no deduction has been made. You may choose to include them to show nothing has been missed.

    Payments by BACS

    BACS payments can be made using these details:

    • Sort Code: 60-02-23
    • Account number: 99105837
    Important:

    You must:

    • quote the employee's eight digit council tax account reference when making each payment
    • show on the schedule the total amount paid
    • show on the schedule the date you made the payment.

    Email the payment schedule to both the cashiers and recovery teams:

    Email recovery@eastriding.gov.uk

    Email cashiers.admin@eastriding.gov.uk

    Payments by cheque

    Payment by cheque is accepted for CTAEOs. Cheques should:

    • be made payable to East Riding of Yorkshire Council
    • have the employee's eight digit council tax account number on the back of the cheque.

    If payment is for multiple accounts, a full breakdown of each account should be shown on the schedule and sent with the cheque.  

    Payments and schedules should be sent to:

    East Riding of Yorkshire Council
    P.O. Box 83
    Beverley
    HU17 9YR.

    Please note

    The council cannot be held responsible for payments which are not accompanied by a schedule.

    The earnings you can deduct from

    You must work out the deduction using the employee’s net earnings.

    Net earnings are what is left after you take off:

    • income tax
    • primary Class 1 National Insurance contributions
    • superannuation contributions
    • any higher priority deduction.

    What counts as earnings

    Earnings include:

    • wages or salary
    • fees
    • bonuses
    • commission
    • overtime
    • any other payment under a contract of employment
    • statutory sick pay.

    What does not count as earnings

    Earnings do not include:

    • payments from public departments in Northern Ireland or outside the UK
    • armed forces pay and allowances (except reserve forces paid by an employer)
    • social security benefits, including statutory maternity, paternity or adoption pay
    • tax credits
    • disability or disablement allowances
    • wages paid to a seaman, unless they work on a fishing boat.

    How much to deduct

    Use the council tax Attachment of Earnings Order tables to find out how much to deduct.

    Council tax Attachment of Earnings Orders deduction tables

    Find out how much you should deduct from your employer’s weekly or monthly wages:

    • find your employee’s net earnings in the first two columns of the correct table
    • use Table 1 for weekly pay
    • use Table 2 for monthly pay
    • use Table 3 for daily pay
    • apply the percentage shown in the third column to their net earnings.

    Responsibilities of the council

    We will tell you when the full amount owed under the CTAEO has been paid. This includes payments not made by a CTAEO.

    We will tell you in writing if we cancel (discharge) a CTAEO.

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    Please note

    To help speed up your application please make sure the email subject line is: Hardship application – [Your council tax reference number]. This is if you are emailing us:

    • a completed hardship request form, or
    • details of your household’s income and outgoings.

    It is important that you return your completed form, or email of your financial details, as soon as possible.

    Warning

    Deductions from your wages will continue until we have reviewed your claim. We will accept forms returned by post, but we do not recommend this method. This is due to the time it takes to arrive and then process.

    We recommend that you request and return the form by email, with the correct subject line. This is the quickest process.

    If we approve your hardship claim we will:

    • not refund payments that have already been made
    • adjust the amount of future payments.

    Leaving your employment with a CTAEO

    You must write to the council within 14 days if you:

    • leave your current place of employment
    • become unemployed, or
    • get a new job with a different employer.

    You must let us know:

    • the name and address of the employer you are leaving
    • the amount of your net earnings and anticipated net earnings
    • your place of new employment, if you’re starting a new job
    • your job title, National Insurance number, and any pay/reference number.
    Please note

    You could be liable for a fine if you do not supply this information or you deliberately provide incorrect information.

    Employers

    An Attachment of Earnings Order means you must deduct a set percentage from your employee’s wage to pay for their council tax.

    Visit our guide for employers page to find out everything you need to understand about Council Tax Attachment of Earnings Orders (CTAEO):

    Council tax Attachment of Earnings Orders (CTAEO) for employers

    Employees

    A liability order tells you how much you owe us for unpaid council tax plus any additional fees. Your court summons provides details of the payment plan you should follow to pay off your debt. If you do not follow this payment plan, your employer will be sent an Attachment of Earnings Order. This tells your employer to send a set percentage of your wages directly to us to pay off your debt. For more information:

    Attachment of Earnings Order - wage deduction tables

    Hardship request guidance

    If you think the amount taken from your wages will leave you in financial difficulty, you can contact us for a hardship application form:

    Email recovery@eastriding.gov.uk

    Call 01482 393939

    The hardship application form allows you to tell us about your financial situation in detail. You will need to provide information on:

    • the money your household has coming in (the income)
    • what you spend your money on (the outgoings).

    Providing complete and accurate information is important as it means we can see whether the Attachment of Earnings Order will leave you in financial difficulty.

    Completed forms will need to be scanned or photographed. Please make sure any photographed forms are clear and the information can be read. Email your completed forms to:

    Email recovery@eastriding.gov.uk

    If you do not want, or need, to complete the form, you can send us an email with full details of your income and outgoings instead.

    If there is more than one earnings order

    An employee may have more than one attachment of earnings order.

    Whether you can apply more than one at the same time depends on the type of order and when it was made.

    If you receive two or more orders made on the same date:

    • if they are from different organisations, apply them in the order you received them
    • if they are from the same organisation, ask the organisation which one takes priority.

    Types of earnings orders

    You may receive:

    • Attachment of Earnings Order (AEO) for maintenance or a fine (priority AEOs)
    • Child Support Deduction from Earnings Order (DEO)
    • Council Tax Attachment of Earnings Order (CTAEO)
    • Direct Earnings Attachment (DEA)
    • Attachment of Earnings Order (AEO) for civil debts (non-priority AEOs).

    AEOs for maintenance or fines, DEOs and CTAEOs take priority over each other by the date they were issued.

    They all take priority over:

    • DEAs
    • AEOs for civil debt
    • student loans
    • Scottish Current Maintenance Arrestment.

    Only two CTAEOs from the billing authority can be in operation at the same time for one employee. If you receive a third, you must return it to the billing authority that issued it.

    When working out net earnings:

    • do not include money already being deducted under a higher priority order
    • do not include loans, for example for moving house or season tickets
    • you may include any protected earnings set under a previous order.

    Tables of wage deductions

    Table 1 - weekly net earnings

    From Up to % deduct
    - £74.99 0%
    £75.00 £134.99 3%
    £135.00 £184.99 5%
    £185.00 £224.99 7%
    £225.00 £354.99 12%
    £355.00 £504.99 17%
    £505.00 - 17% for first £505
    50% of anything over £505

    Table 2 - monthly net earnings

    From Up to % deduct
    - £299.99 0%
    £300.00 £549.99 3%
    £550.00 £739.99 5%
    £740.00 £899.99 7%
    £900.00 £1,419.99 12%
    £1,420.00 £2,019.99 17%
    £2,020.00 - 17% for the first £2,020
    50% of anything over £2,020

    Table 3 - based on daily net earnings

    From Up to % deduct
    - £10.99 0%
    £11.00 £19.99 3%
    £20.00 £26.99 5%
    £27.00 £32.99 7%
    £33.00 £51.99 12%
    £52.00 £71.99 17%
    £72.00 - 17% for the first £72
    50% of anything over £72

    If the employee is not paid weekly or monthly

    If you pay in whole weeks or months, such as fortnightly or quarterly:

    • divide the net pay by the number of weeks or months it covers to get the weekly or monthly amount
    • find that amount in Table 1 (weekly net earnings) or Table 2 (monthly net earnings)
      Go to the tables of wage deductions
    • deduct the correct percentage from the full pay amount.

    If you pay at irregular times that are not whole weeks or months:

    • divide the net pay by the number of days it covers to get a daily amount
    • find that amount in Table 3 (daily net earnings)
      Go to the tables of wage deductions
    • deduct the correct percentage from the full pay amount.

    If the employee receives more than one series of payments on separate dates

    If an employee is paid in different ways on different dates:

    For payments made less often and on a different date:

    • deduct 20 per cent of the net earnings.

    You can take £1 for administration costs for each separate deduction.

    Example

    If an employee:

    • receives weekly basic pay, and
    • sometimes receives other payments on different dates, such as commission or a bonus.

    Use Table 1 (weekly net earnings) to work out the weekly deduction. Then deduct 20 per cent from the net amount of the other payments.
    Go to the tables of wage deductions

    If the employee receives more than one series of payments on the same day

    If you pay regular wages and an extra payment on the same day:

    • add both net amounts together
    • treat them as one single payment
    • apply the correct percentage from the deduction table.

    An extra payment could be a:

    • commission
    • performance payment
    • Christmas bonus.

    Deductions for holiday pay

    To work out a deduction from holiday pay:

    • divide the net holiday pay by the number of weeks it covers
    • use Table 1 to find the correct percentage
      Go to the tables of wage deductions
    • apply that percentage to the holiday pay.

    You must deduct this amount as well as any deduction from normal wages paid on the same day.

    If you make one single payment that includes holiday pay and normal wages:

    • you can only take £1 for administration costs because it counts as one deduction.

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