Submit Attachment of Earnings (AOE) application

You can ask for an Attachment Of Earnings order unless the defendant is unemployed, self-employed, a firm or a limited company, in the army, navy or air force or a merchant seaman.

If you are not sure whether the defendant is employed, you can:

1. Ask the County Court in the defendant's home area to search the attachment of earnings index. There is no fee for this. If the defendant has another attachment of earnings order already, you can ask the court to join (or "consolidate") your debt with those others. You can get an attachment of earnings order in this way without having to pay a fee.
2. Ask for the defendant to be questioned using an Order to Obtain Information (OOI).
3. Ask a tracing agent for Employment Confirmation.

The most common reasons for not receiving payments are:

• the defendant has left or changed jobs; or
• the defendant is not earning enough for the payments to be made.

A court officer will look at the information given on the defendant's statement of means and decide how much the defendant can afford to pay. You do not have to accept the court officer's decision. You can ask for a district judge to decide what would be a fair way for the defendant to pay the money by writing within 16 days of the date of the postmark shown on the envelope which the attachment of earnings order came in. The court will make an appointment and you will be told when to come to court.

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