LegalizeThe Diligence against Earnings (Variation) (Scotland) Regulations 2021
Made: 10th November 2021
Laid before the Scottish Parliament: 12th November 2021
Coming into force: 6th April 2022
The Scottish Ministers make the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 49(7)(a), 53(3) and 63(6) of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987[^f00001] and all other powers enabling them to do so.
Citation and commencement
1
These Regulations may be cited as the Diligence against Earnings (Variation) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 and come into force on 6 April 2022.
Rate of deductions in diligence against earnings
2
In the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987—
- (a) in sections 53(2)(b) (deductions to be made under current maintenance arrestments) and 63(4)(b) (deductions to be made under conjoined arrestment orders), for “17.42”[^f00002] substitute “18.63”, and
- (b) for Tables A, B and C of schedule 2[^f00003] (deductions to be made under earnings arrestment), substitute respectively Tables A, B and C in the schedule of these Regulations.
SCHEDULE
| Net earnings | Deduction* |
|---|---|
| Not exceeding £130.73 | Nil |
| Exceeding £130.73 but not exceeding £472.54 | £4.00 or 19% of earnings exceeding £130.73, whichever is the greater |
| Exceeding £472.54 but not exceeding £710.42 | £64.94 plus 23% of earnings exceeding £472.54 |
| Exceeding £710.42 | £119.66 plus 50% of earnings exceeding £710.42 |
| Net earnings | Deduction* |
| --- | --- |
| Not exceeding £566.51 | Nil |
| Exceeding £566.51 but not exceeding £2,047.65 | £15.00 or 19% of earnings exceeding £566.51, whichever is the greater |
| Exceeding £2,047.65 but not exceeding £3,078.47 | £281.42 plus 23% of earnings exceeding £2,047.65 |
| Exceeding £3,078.47 | £518.51 plus 50% of earnings exceeding £3,078.47 |
| Net earnings | Deduction* |
| --- | --- |
| Not exceeding £18.63 | Nil |
| Exceeding £18.63 but not exceeding £67.32 | £0.50 or 19% of earnings exceeding £18.63, whichever is the greater |
| Exceeding £67.32 but not exceeding £101.21 | £9.25 plus 23% of earnings exceeding £67.32 |
| Exceeding £101.21 | £17.05 plus 50% of earnings exceeding £101.21 |
*When applying a percentage the calculation should be done to two decimal places of a penny and the result rounded to the nearest whole penny, with an exact half penny being rounded down.
Signed
IVAN MCKEE — Authorised to sign by the Scottish Ministers — 10th November 2021
Explanatory note
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
EXPLANATORY NOTE
These Regulations make changes to certain figures relating to diligence against earnings in Part 3 of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987 (“the Act”).
Regulation 2(a) increases the figure in sections 53(2)(b) and 63(4)(b) of the Act, used to determine the sum to be deducted from earnings subject to current maintenance arrestment or conjoined arrestment order, from £17.42 to £18.63.
Regulation 2(b) substitutes new Tables A, B and C for those in schedule 2 of the Act which describe the deductions to be made from earnings subject to an earnings arrestment.
The increases have been calculated by reference to the change in earnings since the figures were last updated in 2018.
In accordance with sections 49(8), 53(4) and (5), 63(7) and (8) and 69(1) and (2) of the Act, these Regulations do not apply to existing diligences until the Regulations are intimated to employers, unless employers choose to apply them. If they do not choose to do so the figures substituted by previous regulations will continue to apply until intimation takes place.
The increase to the lower monthly threshold will also raise the minimum balance in debtors’ bank accounts protected from arrestment by section 73F of the Act, introduced by the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007 (asp 3), from £529.90 to £566.51.
A Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared and is available online at www.legislation.gov.uk.
Footnotes
[^f00001]: 1987 c. 18. The functions of the Lord Advocate were transferred to the Secretary of State by S.I. 1999/678 and to the Scottish Ministers by section 53 of the Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46).
[^f00002]: This sum was most recently substituted by S.S.I. 2018/345.
[^f00003]: Tables A, B and C were most recently substituted by S.S.I. 2018/345.
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