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When debt payments can be taken from your wages, changing how much you pay, paying it off early, and reporting a change to your circumstances

• When repayments can be taken

  You can have debt repayments taken out of your wages if you owe someone…

• Change how much you pay

  You can apply to get the payments reduced if you cannot afford them.…

• Check how much you owe

  Contact the Centralised Attachment of Earning Payments (CAPS) office to…

• Report a change in your circumstances

  You must report any changes in your circumstances if you’re paying off a…

• When you’ve paid off the debt

  The Centralised Attachment of Earning Payments (CAPS) office will send you…

Guidance on debt relief orders for debt advisers. To search, press ‘control’ and ‘f’ on your keyboard at the same time. A search box will appear.

• Updated: 4 March 2025

How to make debt deductions from an employee's pay because of an 'attachment of earnings order' (AEO) from a court. Includes information from the withdrawn A/E guidance.

• When you have to deduct from pay

  You have to make deductions from your employee’s wages if a court orders…

• Getting an order

  You and your employee will each get an ‘attachment of earnings order’…

• Deductions for a priority order

  Priority orders are used for unpaid maintenance or fines. Calculate your…

• Deductions for a non-priority order

  Non-priority orders are used for debts from a county court judgment (CCJ).…

• What counts as earnings

  You can only make a deduction from the following earnings: wages, fees,…

• Making payments

  The order that you get for the employee will tell you whether you have to…

• Change of circumstances

  Write to the Centralised Attachment of Earning Payments (CAPS) office…

Check if you can claim relief from VAT if you supply goods or services to a customer, but you are not paid.

• Updated: 18 September 2025

Late commercial payments - interest and debt recovery costs you can charge businesses for late payments

Making someone bankrupt is one way to recover money owed to you – bankruptcy petition fees and download a guide to creditor bankruptcy petitions

How HMRC uses debt enforcement powers, debt collection agencies and what happens if you live abroad when you do not pay your tax bill.

• Updated: 12 September 2025

Debts you owe (for example court fines, rent or Council Tax) can be deducted from your benefits – sometimes called third party deductions or Fuel Direct

What to do if you receive a county court judgment (CCJ) - how to get it set aside or change what you pay, what happens if you do not pay, how to search the register. Includes information from the withdrawn...

Find out how to account for VAT and who to contact if you're an insolvency practitioner and you're appointed over insolvent VAT-registered businesses.

• Updated: 23 October 2025