When repayments can be taken

You can have debt repayments taken out of your wages if you owe someone money from either:

The person you owe money is called a ‘creditor’.

You can also have benefit overpayments taken from your wages by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) or your local council.

How you’re told

You and your employer will get a document (called an ‘attachment of earnings order’) from the court. This will tell you:

  • how much you owe
  • how much your employer takes from your wages - you can apply to get this changed if you cannot afford it
  • when and how the payments have to be made

You and your employer can be fined if they do not follow the order. You cannot ask them to ignore it.