Fines (Payment and Recovery) Act 2014

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PART 4

Attachment Orders

Attachment order

14. (1) Subject to subsection (4), where a fined person who is employed under a contract of employment or in receipt of an occupational pension fails to pay the fine by the due date for payment, the court may, at the sitting of the court on the date specified in the notice concerned under section 7 (4) served on the person, make an order directing the person’s employer to—

(a) deduct from the fined person’s earnings the sums specified in the order, and

(b) pay the sums so deducted, as contributions toward the payment of the fine, in the manner and within the period specified in the order.

(2) Subject to subsection (4) and section 16 (1)(b), the amounts specified in the attachment order shall be such as to ensure that the fine is paid within 12 months of the date on which the order is effected unless the court, where it considers it appropriate to do so in the circumstances of the case, specifies a shorter period in the order (in which case that shorter period shall apply to such payment in respect of that order).

(3) The court shall include the following particulars in the attachment order:

(a) the fined person’s name;

(b) the fined person’s address;

(c) the fined person’s personal public service number;

(d) the name and address of the fined person’s employer;

(e) such other information as the court has in its possession as would assist the employer in identifying the fined person;

(f) the amounts to be deducted from the fined person’s earnings;

(g) the date by which the first instalment shall be paid;

(h) the frequency at which such amounts are to be paid; and

(i) the method by which the amounts deducted are to be transferred to the court.

(4) Where the court is given a notice under section 15 (4) by the employer of the fined person, it may, as appropriate—

(a) make an order (“variation order”) varying the attachment order concerned to take account of what is stated in the notice and, in any such case—

(i) the appropriate court official shall cause the variation order to be served on that employer, and

(ii) subsection (3) of section 15 shall apply to the attachment order as so varied as if the reference in that subsection to “but is not liable for non-compliance before 10 working days have elapsed since the service of the order” were a reference to “but is not liable for non-compliance before 10 working days have elapsed since the service of the variation order”,

or

(b) revoke the attachment order concerned and, in any such case, the appropriate court official shall give notice in writing to the employer of such revocation.