The Scottish Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth has written to the Economy and Fair Work Committee to outline his plans to bring forward proposals to uprate the earnings arrestment tables from 6th April 2023.
These tables were last uprated in April 2022 and are normally uprated every three years.
However, given the current rate of inflation and current cost crisis, the Scottish Government is keen to conduct a further uprating of the tables now to provide some additional financial resilience to those subject to an earnings arrestment.
More information can be found in the Earnings Arrestment letter available on the Scottish Parliament’s website.
Proposed Tables from 6 April 2023
| TABLE A: DEDUCTIONS FROM WEEKLY EARNINGS | |
| Net earnings | Deduction* |
| Not exceeding £150.94 | Nil |
| Exceeding £150.94 but not exceeding £545.57 | £4 or 19% of earnings exceeding £150.94, whichever is the greater |
| Exceeding £545.57 but not exceeding £820.21 | £74.98 plus 23% of earnings exceeding £545.57 |
| Exceeding £820.21 | £138.15 plus 50% of earnings exceeding £820.21 |
| TABLE B: DEDUCTIONS FROM MONTHLY EARNINGS | |
| Net earnings | Deduction* |
| Not exceeding £655.83 | Nil |
| Exceeding £655.83 but not exceeding £2,370.49 | £15.00 or 19% of earnings exceeding £655.83, whichever is the greater |
| Exceeding £2,370.49 but not exceeding £3,563.83 | £325.79 plus 23% of earnings exceeding £2,370.49 |
| Exceeding £3,563.83 | £600.25 plus 50% of earnings exceeding £3,563.83 |
| TABLE C: DEDUCTIONS FROM DAILY EARNINGS | |
| Net earnings | Deduction* |
| Not exceeding £21.56 | Nil |
| Exceeding £21.56 but not exceeding £77.93 | £0.50 or 19% of earnings exceeding £21.56, whichever is the greater |
| Exceeding £77.93 but not exceeding £117.17 | £10.71 plus 23% of earnings exceeding £77.93 |
| Exceeding £117.17 | £19.73 plus 50% of earnings exceeding £117.17 |
*When applying a percentage the calculation should be done to two decimal places of a penny and the result rounded to the nearest whole penny, with an exact half penny being rounded down.
Opinion
The Scottish Earnings Arrestment tables are normally reviewed every three year, the last taking effect from 6th April 2022. Traditionally the change applied from 1st November when changes were made, but in recent years the changes have aligned with the commencement of the tax year being 6th April.
Unlike the rest of the United Kingdom where the applicable calculations to use for Attachment of Earnings Orders is often dictated by the calculations applicable at the date the order was issued and not revised by later changes, with regards to Scotland, the changes apply from the change point to all arrestments from the effective date and onwards, even for those issued prior.
PAYadvice.UK 30/12/2022
