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- What does an earnings arrestment schedule do?
- Who is the schedule served on, and why not on you?
- What exactly does section 47(1) require your employer to do?
- Is the schedule the same thing as Schedule 2 to the 1987 Act?
- When does the schedule take effect, and what ends it?
- Can more than one schedule run against the same employment?
- Which court forms get confused with the schedule?
- What can you do once a schedule has been served?
- Related guides
- Frequently asked questions
An earnings arrestment schedule is the document served on your employer that puts a wage arrestment into effect. Under section 47(1) of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987 it requires your employer to deduct a sum from your net earnings on every pay day and to pay it over as soon as is reasonably practicable.
It is served on the employer rather than on you, because the employer is the one being instructed. That single fact explains a lot of what looks odd about the process.
Part of your pay is protected by law
The deduction is set by statutory tables, not the creditor
An arrestment can be stopped or replaced
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The schedule does not fix the amount. It points payroll at a table, and the table does the arithmetic.
Here is what the document does, who serves it, what your employer has to do with it, and what it gets confused with.
What does an earnings arrestment schedule do?
It executes the diligence. Service of the schedule on your employer is what makes the arrestment take effect, under section 47(2), and section 47(1) then sets out what your employer must do with it.
Diligence, in one sentence
Diligence is the Scots term for the legal enforcement of a debt, and an earnings arrestment is the form of it that reaches wages. The regime sits in Part III of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987.
How a wage arrestment works in Scotland covers the mechanism end to end, and this page stays with the document.
What the schedule does not do
It does not choose a figure and it does not give payroll a discretion. The amount comes from the statutory tables applied to your net earnings for that pay period.
The start date for the money is not fixed by the paperwork at all. Section 47(1) sets the duty by pay day, so the first affected pay date is a question for payroll.
Who is the schedule served on, and why not on you?
Sheriff officers serve it on your employer, acting for the creditor. Your employer is the party under the duty, so the instruction goes to the party who has to carry it out.
Who the officers are
Sheriff officers are officers of the court, appointed by and accountable to the sheriff, and they are not bailiffs. The firms instructed by Scottish councils include Scott & Co, Stirling Park, Walker Love and Alex M Adamson.
Each has a page in our sheriff officer advice section, and the firm handling your account is named on any letters you have had.
What that means for finding out
Because the document goes to payroll, a payslip can be where an arrestment first becomes visible. How you know if you have a wage arrestment covers the checks in order.
Ask payroll to confirm what they hold and on what date. Which documents you should receive before a wage arrestment covers the rest of the paperwork and who holds each piece.
What exactly does section 47(1) require your employer to do?
Deduct a sum calculated in accordance with section 49 or 49A from your net earnings on every pay day, and as soon as is reasonably practicable pay any sum so deducted to the creditor. The table below adds the conditions that sit around that duty.
The duties, provision by provision
| The duty | Where it comes from | What it means for your pay |
|---|---|---|
| Deduct on every pay day | Section 47(1) | The sum is worked out afresh each pay period rather than fixed once at the start |
| Calculate the sum under section 49 or 49A, on net earnings | Section 47(1) | The figure comes from the statutory table, not from the creditor and not from payroll |
| Pay the sum over as soon as is reasonably practicable | Section 47(1) | The money goes to the creditor rather than being held back at the employer |
| Keep operating it until one of three things happens | Section 47(2) | The debt being paid or extinguished, the employment ending, or recall or abandonment |
| The arrestment does not take effect without the statutory package | Section 47(3) | A debt advice and information package given no earlier than 12 weeks before service |
| Failing to operate it carries a consequence for the employer | Part III of the 1987 Act | Refusing to comply makes the employer liable for the sums they should have deducted |
Why on every pay day is the operative phrase
The duty is not to take a fixed monthly sum until the debt clears. It is to run the calculation again each pay period on that period’s net earnings.
That is why a bonus month produces a bigger deduction and a short month produces a smaller one. How long a wage arrestment lasts covers what happens over the life of it.
The employer’s own charge
The employer may take £1.00 per deduction as an administration charge, on top of the arrested amount. That charge is separate from the sum the statutory table produces.
Only payroll and whoever processes the paperwork need to know it exists. Whether your employer can sack you for having a wage arrestment covers where you stand at work.
Is the schedule the same thing as Schedule 2 to the 1987 Act?
No, and the shared word causes real confusion. The earnings arrestment schedule is the document served on your employer, while Schedule 2 is the part of the Act holding the deduction tables it points to.
An instruction and a rate card
| The question | The earnings arrestment schedule | Schedule 2 to the 1987 Act |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A document served on your employer | A schedule to the Act, holding the deduction tables |
| What it does | Puts the arrestment into effect and starts the deduction running | Fixes the sum to be deducted at each level of net earnings |
| Who it reaches | Your employer, by service | Everybody with an earnings arrestment running |
| Who applies it | Payroll, on every pay day | Payroll, to the net earnings for that pay period |
| When it changes | It does not. A fresh schedule would have to be served | It was substituted with effect from 6 April 2025 by SSI 2024/293 |
| What ends its effect | The debt being paid or extinguished, the employment ending, or recall or abandonment | It stays in force until it is substituted again |
Where the tables came from
Schedule 2 was substituted wholesale by the Diligence against Earnings (Variation) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 with effect from 6 April 2025, which is why the figures changed without the Act changing.
Nothing is taken from monthly net earnings of £750.00 or less, weekly net earnings of £172.61 or less, or daily net earnings of £24.66 or less. How much they can take from your wages sets out the bands above those floors.
No April 2026 uprating was made, so those tables were still current in August 2026. Whether the tables change every April covers the review cycle.
Found a deduction on your payslip you did not expect? Get free help
When does the schedule take effect, and what ends it?
Under section 47(2) an arrestment takes effect when the schedule is served on the employer and runs until the debt is paid or extinguished, the employment ends, or it is recalled or abandoned.
The condition attached to it taking effect
Section 47(3) provides that an earnings arrestment does not take effect unless the creditor gave you a debt advice and information package no earlier than 12 weeks before the schedule was served. What warning you get before a wage arrestment covers that window.
The date the money starts moving is a separate question again. When a wage arrestment starts after the paperwork arrives works through both dates.
What happens if you leave that job
The arrestment falls with the employment it was served on and a new employer is not bound by it. The creditor can trace where you are working now and serve a fresh schedule there.
So a job move interrupts the deductions rather than ending the debt. Whether a wage arrestment can be stopped once it has started covers what actually ends one.
Can more than one schedule run against the same employment?
No. Only one diligence against earnings can operate against the same employment at a time, so a second ordinary creditor cannot simply add another arrestment.
What a second creditor has to do instead
They have to apply for a conjoined arrestment order, which the sheriff clerk administers and which consolidates the debts into one deduction.
The sheriff clerk receives the money from the employer and distributes it among the creditors. Your employer still operates a single deduction.
The one exception
A current maintenance arrestment can run alongside an ordinary earnings arrestment. Whether you can have more than one at the same time sets out the combinations.
A child maintenance deduction from earnings order can outrank an earnings arrestment. Section 73(1)(d) takes off, before net earnings are worked out, any deduction from earnings order that the child support regulations give priority over diligences against earnings, so the tables are then applied to what is left.
Which court forms get confused with the schedule?
Form 32, Form 33 and Form 63G. All three are court applications made by a debtor, and none of them is the schedule.
The three forms, and what each is for
| The form | What it is used for | What it reaches |
|---|---|---|
| Form 32, under rule 40(1) | An application under section 50(1) for a declarator that an arrestment is invalid or has ceased to have effect | Wages |
| Form 33, under rule 41(1) | An application under section 50(3) to determine a dispute about how an arrestment is operating | Wages |
| Form 63G, under rule 69E | An unduly harsh application under sections 73Q and 73R | Arrested funds and moveable property, not wages |
Applications are lodged at the sheriff court, and a money adviser can tell you whether any of them fits your facts.
Why the third row matters most
Sections 73Q and 73R reach funds and moveable property, so an unduly harsh application is not a route against a wage arrestment. What an unduly harsh application is sets out where it does apply.
Section 50 carries no affordability ground either, and a sheriff cannot reduce a Schedule 2 deduction because you cannot afford it. Challenging a wage arrestment you think is wrong covers what the two section 50 limbs actually do.
What can you do once a schedule has been served?
Get the balance in writing and take it to a free money adviser. Arguing with payroll changes nothing, because your employer has no discretion over the deduction.
The routes that stop it
An approved Debt Payment Programme under the Debt Arrangement Scheme stops an existing earnings arrestment and freezes interest, fees and charges.
A statutory moratorium gives six months of protection and you get one per rolling 12 months. It stops service of a charge for payment, stops new diligence and stops creditor petitions for sequestration.
It does not stop a creditor obtaining a decree, and interest and charges keep accruing throughout.
Whether a creditor can carry on an earnings arrestment your employer is already operating is treated differently in the Accountant in Bankruptcy’s adviser guidance from the general statement of the rule. Ask a money adviser to confirm the position on your facts before relying on it.
Sequestration and the Minimal Asset Process end an existing arrestment on the date of sequestration under section 72(2), and a protected trust deed does so on the date of protection under section 173 of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016.
A Time to Pay Order requires the sheriff to recall any existing earnings arrestment, where the debt outstanding is £25,000 or less excluding interest, though it is not settled whether an earnings arrestment on its own opens the door to an application, so ask a money adviser or the sheriff clerk whether one is competent on your facts. How you stop a wage arrestment in Scotland compares the routes.
One clear next step
Ask the creditor or the sheriff officer firm for a full written breakdown of the balance, then take that figure to an adviser. Official guidance sits on mygov.scot and the statutory schemes are run by the Accountant in Bankruptcy.
Money already taken is credited against the debt and is not usually refunded. Check the position with the creditor.
Frequently asked questions
What is an earnings arrestment form in Scotland?
The earnings arrestment schedule is the document sheriff officers serve on an employer to start deductions. Separate court forms exist for a debtor’s own applications, including Form 32 and Form 33 under section 50.
Do you get a copy of the arrestment schedule?
The schedule is served on your employer, because your employer is the party under the duty. Ask payroll to confirm what they received and on what date, and ask the creditor or sheriff officer firm for a written breakdown of the debt.
How soon after the schedule arrives do deductions start?
The duty in section 47(1) attaches to every pay day rather than to a number of days after service. Ask payroll which pay date will be the first affected one.
Can your employer refuse to action an arrestment schedule?
No. Once served, the employer must operate it, and refusing to comply makes the employer liable for the sums they should have deducted.
Is the earnings arrestment schedule the same as Schedule 2?
No. The schedule is the document served on your employer, and Schedule 2 is the part of the Act containing the deduction tables that document points to.
Can two creditors serve arrestment schedules on the same employer?
Only one diligence against earnings can run against the same employment at a time. A second creditor has to apply for a conjoined arrestment order, though a current maintenance arrestment can run alongside.
How long does the arrestment on the schedule last?
Until the debt recoverable under it is paid or otherwise extinguished, until you cease to be employed by that employer, or until it is recalled or abandoned. None of those is a length of time.
Can you ask a sheriff to reduce the amount on the schedule?
No. Section 50 deals with validity and with disputes about how an arrestment operates rather than with affordability, and the unduly harsh test reaches arrested funds rather than wages.
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Written as general information about Scottish debt law rather than regulated financial or legal advice, and your own circumstances may change the answer. Free, impartial help is available from Citizens Advice Scotland, StepChange, Money Advice Scotland and National Debtline.