Schedule 2 of the Debtors Scotland Act 1987 sets out the amount that can be deducted from an individual’s wages when they are subject to diligence against earnings (more commonly referred to as earnings arrestment).
The tables within the schedule have been reviewed and as a result, the Diligence against Earnings (Variation) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 were laid in the Scottish Parliament on 31st October 2024 and will come into force on 6th April 2025.
The Regulations will increase protection for those in debt by raising the protected minimum amount beneath which deductions may not be taken from earnings by arrestment.
In addition, they will make some minor adjustments to the table bandings that determine how much an individual will have deducted from their earnings, if they earn above the protected minimum amount.
Opinion
The Scottish Earnings Arrestments are normally reviewed and changed every three years.
The last review took place and was effective from 6th April 2023 with the prior year 2022 also seeing a revision applied.
This change was a little hidden from view and may come as a bit of a surprise to both employers and payroll software developers.
Unlike the rest of the United Kingdom where change usually applies only to newly issued Attachment of Earnings Orders, Earnings Arrestment changes can be applied by an employer under section 69(1) and (2) to all pre-existing orders being operated due to becoming aware of this change
PAYadvice.UK 4/2/2025 updated 5/2/2025