| | Direct Earnings Attachment |
| Description | The Direct Earnings Attachment (DEA) collects overpaid benefits from employees and calculates in the same way as other attachments. The protected earnings are fixed at 60%, which means that after deduction of all attachments you must leave the employee with no less than 60% of their net pay. As with other attachments, employers can take a £1 admin fee in addition to the deduction. The amount to deduct is determined by the employee's pay frequency, salary and whether you're instructed to calculate deductions at the higher or standard rate. |
| Resolution | Definition of earnings for DEAsThe DEA calculation includes several types of payments, however there are some exclusions. To find out more about these payments, you can view a table of which earnings are included and which aren't > | What counts as earnings for DEAs | What doesn't count as earnings for DEAs |
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| Wages | Statutory maternity pay | | Salary | Statutory adoption pay | | Fees | Statutory paternity pay | | Bonuses | Shared parental pay | | Commission | Any pension, benefit, allowance or credit paid by Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), a local authority or HMRC | | Overtime pay | A guaranteed minimum pension under the Social Security Act Pensions Act 1975 | | Most other payments on top of wages | Amounts paid by a public department of the Government of Northern Ireland or anywhere outside the United Kingdom | | Occupational pensions, if paid with wages or salary | Sums paid to reimburse expenses wholly and necessarily incurred in the course of the employment | | Compensation payments | Pay or allowances as a member of Her Majesty’s forces, other than pay or allowances payable to them by you as a special member of a reserve force | | Statutory sick pay | Redundancy payments and pay in lieu of notice |
You can set which payments and deductions are subject to Attachment of Earnings calculations in Sage 50 Payroll. - Click Company, then Pay Elements.
- Select the relevant payment or deduction then click Edit.
- To set whether this payment or deduction is included in the DEA calculation:
- Select the checkbox beside Other Attachments to include it in the calculation
- Clear the checkbox beside Other Attachments to not include it in the calculation
If there are any other payments or deductions you need to edit, repeat these steps. If you're not certain whether to include any payments or deductions, contact DWP for advice.
Calculate the amount to deductThe deduction rates depend on whether you've been asked to apply a standard rate, or higher rate DEA. Your software includes these rates in the legislation settings. To view these rates, select an option below: - Standard rate >
Table A: Weekly - Standard rate| Amount of net earnings | Deduction percentage of net earnings |
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| £0.00 to £100.00 | Nil | | £100.01 to £160.00 | 3 | | £160.01 to £220.00 | 5 | | £220.01 to £270.00 | 7 | | £270.01 to £375.00 | 11 | | £375.01 to £520.00 | 15 | | £520.01 and above | 20 |
- If you pay an employee fortnightly, divide the total net wage by two then use table A to check the percentage
- If you pay an employee four weekly, divide the total net wage by four then use table A to check the percentage
Table B: Monthly - Standard rate| Amount of net earnings | Deduction percentage of net earnings |
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| £0.00 to £430.00 | Nil | | £430.01 to £690.00 | 3 | | £690.01 to £950.00 | 5 | | £950.01 to £1,160.00 | 7 | | £1,160.01 to £1,615.00 | 11 | | £1,615.01 to £2,240.00 | 15 | | £2,240.01 and above | 20 |
- Higher rate >
Table A: Weekly - Higher rate| Amount of net earnings | Deduction percentage of net earnings |
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| £0.00 to £100.00 | 5 | | £100.01 to £160.00 | 6 | | £160.01 to £220.00 | 10 | | £220.01 to £270.00 | 14 | | £270.01 to £375.00 | 22 | | £375.01 to £520.00 | 30 | | £520.01 and above | 40 |
If you pay an employee fortnightly, divide the total net wage by two then to check the percentage use table C.
If you pay an employee four weekly, divide the total net wage by four then to check the percentage use table C. Table D: Monthly - Higher rate| Amount of net earnings | Deduction percentage of net earnings |
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| £0.00 to £430.00 | 5 | | £430.01 to £690.00 | 6 | | £690.01 to £950.00 | 10 | | £950.01 to £1,160.00 | 14 | | £1,160.01 to £1,615.00 | 22 | | £1,615.01 to £2,240.00 | 30 | | £2,240.01 and above. | 40 |
Set up a DEAWhen you're ready to set up a DEA, run through the set up steps in the employee record > - On the Employee List, double-click the required employee.
- Click the Employment tab then click Pay Elements.
- Click the Attachment of Earnings Orders tab.
- Click in the next available line under Attachment Name.
- Click the finder
 button. and select one of the following- Normal Rate Direct Earnings Attachment
- Higher Rate Direct Earnings Attachment
- Click OK then enter the Total Attachment (if specified) and Order Issued Date.
- Click Save, click Save.
- Click Close.
If you've set up your DEA but it's not calculating, you should first check it's set up correctly. To do this, select the DEA in the employee's Attachment of Earnings Orders tab then press F8 on your keyboard to delete it. You can then set up the attachment again using the steps above. If you find it still doesn't calculate or the values aren't as expected, visit our guide covering attachment of earnings orders calculating incorrectly.
Stop the DEA from calculatingIf you set a DEA up with a total attachment value, Sage 50 Payroll automatically stops deducting when the employee has paid the total attachment amount. Sometimes you may need to stop an AEO before it reaches this value. This could be because the debt has been written off or the employee has paid the debt directly to the court or creditor. You can easily stop DEA deductions in the employee record > - Double-click the required employee, then click the Employment tab.
- Click Pay Elements, then click Attachment of Earnings Orders tab.
- Next to the DEA, in Order End Date, enter the required end date.
- Click Save then click Save then click Close.
DWP specify a fixed amount deductionThere can be occasions where the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) request that you deduct a fixed amount each period instead of a percentage of net pay. Because the DEA uses rates based on your employee's net pay, you need to use a different attachment > The attachment you should use in this situation depends on whether DWP require the attachment to use C/F (carried forward) amounts. In some cases, your software can't deduct the full attachment deduction due in a pay period, for example due to protected earnings. With C/F values in use, this underpayment is carried forward and deducted in the next period alongside the normal full deduction that's due. There are two possible attachments to use to calculate this. - For a fixed deduction that carries forward values between pay periods, use the 1971 Priority attachment.
- For a fixed deduction with no values carried forward, use the 1971 Non-Priority attachment.
 TIP: If you need to check whether carried forward rules should apply, contact DWP.
To assign the attachment- Double-click the required employee, then click the Employment tab.
- Click Pay Elements, then click Attachment of Earnings Orders.
- Click the Attachment of Earnings Orders tab.
- If a percentage-based DEA attachment has been used previously and is no longer required, enter an Order End Date to this attachment.
- Click in the next available line under Attachment Name.
- Click the drop-down button and, as required, select either:
- 1971 Priority
- 1971 Non-Priority
- Click OK then enter the amount to deduct per period under Normal Deduction Rate.
- Enter the Total Attachment (if specified) and Order Issued Date.
- Click Save, then click Close.
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