Attachment to Earnings or Benefits
Council tax fact sheet
If you do not pay your council tax we will decide the best way to get it back from you.
If you are employed, we can 'attach to your earnings'. This means that we will ask your employer to take council tax from your salary and pay it directly to us.
The amounts we take from your salary will depend on how much you earn but falls within the range of 3% to 50% of your net pay every month (after deductions).
Your employer will continue to take payments until you have paid what you owe.
By law, your employer must follow the Attachment to Earnings Order and may be prosecuted and fined up to £2000 if they do not.
Once we issue the Attachment to Earnings Order, we can only stop proceedings once you have paid us all the council tax you owe.
If you are on Income Support or Job Seekers Allowance, we can apply to the Department for Work and Pensions for amounts to be taken from your benefit.
The highest amount that we can take from your income support is currently £3.25 a week.
We can only apply for these deductions if we feel that this is the most appropriate action to take.
You should contact us if you have any questions about attachment to earnings or benefit.
Ways to contact us about council tax
Page last updated: 21/12/2010
