A bonus is one of the few things the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987 names in terms, so there is no argument about whether it counts.

What follows is how the sum works, what a bonus is likely to cost, what happens if it is paid on a separate run, and what to check afterwards. Does overtime increase your wage arrestment deduction covers the closest relative of this question.

Yes, and the Act says so by name. Section 73(2)(b) of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987 brings in fees, bonuses, commission and other emoluments payable under a contract of service or apprenticeship.

A closed definition with four paragraphs

Section 73(2) says earnings means those four things rather than includes them, so the list is closed. Anything outside it is not earnings for this purpose, whatever the payslip calls it.

That matters both ways. A bonus is inside the list by name, and a redundancy payment is outside it by name, at section 73(3)(g).

Named, and reached by reading

Overtime and holiday pay are not named anywhere in the section, and they are earnings because they fall within wages or salary, or within other emoluments, and because neither appears in the exclusions. What counts as net earnings for a wage arrestment sets out the whole definition.

That difference is worth holding on to. A bonus is beyond argument, while overtime and holiday pay are included by reading the subsection rather than by the Act listing them.

It goes into the pot with your salary, tax and National Insurance come off, and the table is applied to the total. There is no separate treatment for a one-off payment.

Net, not gross

A gross bonus of £1,000 does not add £1,000 to the figure the table works on. Tax and National Insurance come off first, and pension contributions come off too where they apply.

Section 73(1) defines net earnings as what is left after exactly four deductions, and nothing else comes off before the table is read. Look at the net pay line rather than the gross one.

The monthly table, in force since 6 April 2025

These bands were substituted by the Diligence against Earnings (Variation) (Scotland) Regulations 2024, SSI 2024/293, and were still in force in August 2026.

It depends which band the higher total lands in. Between £1,500.00 and £2,500.00 of monthly net earnings the table takes 20% of the excess, so a bonus adding £400 to net pay adds £80 to that month’s deduction.

Four bonus months worked through

The fourth row is the one worth studying. Above £3,750.00 a month the table takes half of everything over that line, so a large bonus is expensive in a single period.

The same idea on weekly pay

Weekly net pay of £400 produces £25.89 plus 20% of the £54.78 excess, which is £36.85. A bonus lifting that week to £600 net moves you up a band, to £71.92 plus 25% of £24.63, or £78.08.

One busy week, one larger deduction, and back to normal after that. How a wage arrestment is calculated on weekly pay walks through the weekly bands.

Yes, and there is nothing above the nil band that is sheltered. A Scottish earnings arrestment has no percentage cap, and the top band takes 50% of everything over £3,750.00 a month or £863.06 a week.

The protection is a fixed cash floor

What the tables protect is an amount, not a proportion. Below £750.00 a month, £172.61 a week or £24.66 a day, nothing is taken at all.

Above those figures the percentages step up through the bands. That design is generous at low incomes and unforgiving on a windfall.

Do not apply the 60% rule to this

The 60% figure that circulates online belongs to a Direct Earnings Attachment and a Child Maintenance Service deduction from earnings order, and the DWP guide for employers sets out how it works there.

It does not apply to a Scottish earnings arrestment, and using it on your own figures will give you the wrong expectation. Can a wage arrestment take more than half your wages goes through the top band.

No, and section 49 of the 1987 Act deals with it expressly. Where an irregular payment lands on a different day from your normal pay-day, the deduction on that day is a flat 20% of the net earnings paid on it.

Same day, different day

Section 49(4) covers the ordinary case. Where regular and irregular earnings are paid on the same day, they are added together and treated as earnings payable at the regular interval.

Section 49(5) covers the off-cycle run. The 20% figure applies to the whole of the net earnings paid on that separate day, with no nil band to shelter the first slice.

Two or more regular pay series

Section 49(6) deals with the less common case of two regular series paid at different intervals. The series paid at the shorter interval is worked out under the ordinary rules, and any other series attracts the same flat 20% figure.

Very few payslips look like that. It is worth knowing the subsection exists, because it shows how carefully the Act closes off the idea of splitting pay to shrink a deduction.

Why that rarely helps and sometimes hurts

On a combined payslip the bonus at least sits inside the banded table, where the first £750.00 is protected. On a separate run there is no band structure to soften it.

So the split does not remove the bonus from the calculation, and it can produce a worse result. Payroll is following the subsection rather than making a choice.

No, and section 47(1) requires the employer to deduct on every pay-day from that period’s own net earnings, so a bonus in March has no bearing on April. Nobody averages your income and nobody sets a new rate.

The rule cuts both ways

If your hours drop, the deduction drops in the same period, with no form to complete and no review to wait for. Is your wage arrestment deduction recalculated if your hours drop covers that side of it.

Where the net figure falls into the nil band, nothing is taken for that period. The arrestment stays live against the employment and resumes when pay recovers.

What the larger deduction does to the balance

Every pound deducted comes off what you owe, so a bigger deduction in a bonus month genuinely shortens the run. It is not a penalty and it is not an extra charge.

What sits underneath is the balance itself, which on council tax includes the 10 per cent statutory addition made when the summary warrant was granted, and the sheriff officer expenses. How much does a wage arrestment cost you in total itemises the layers.

Find the net figure for the period, run it through the right table yourself, and compare the answer with the deduction line. Two minutes settles most worries on the spot.

A quick payslip check

• Net pay for the period, after tax, National Insurance and pension contributions.
• The band that figure falls into on the monthly, weekly or daily table.
• The fixed amount for that band, plus the percentage of the excess.
• The £1.00 employer administration charge, which is taken on top of the arrested amount and once per deduction.

If the figure still looks wrong

Ask payroll which net figure they used and which table they applied. Most errors are mechanical rather than anything to do with the debt.

Where a genuine dispute remains, section 50(3) of the 1987 Act allows an application to the sheriff to determine a dispute about how the arrestment is being operated, on Form 33 under rule 41(1). Section 50(1) covers a declarator that it is invalid or has ceased to have effect, on Form 32 under rule 40(1), and the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service publishes the rules.

Neither route deals with affordability. Section 46(2) abolished the old subsistence exemption, so a sheriff cannot reduce a Schedule 2 deduction because the month has been hard.

Using a bonus deliberately

Some people put a bonus towards clearing the balance outright. Ask the creditor or the sheriff officer firm for a written settlement figure, including expenses, before you send anything, and will paying a lump sum end a wage arrestment early sets out what to expect.

If the deduction would leave you short of rent or food, the answer is the arrestment itself rather than the bonus. An approved Debt Payment Programme under the Debt Arrangement Scheme stops an existing earnings arrestment and freezes interest and charges.