What if the defendant has another Attachment of Earnings Order?

If the defendant already has an attachment of earnings order against them your order may be joined with it to make a consolidated order.

Anyone involved in an attachment of earnings order (including the defendant's employer) can ask for a consolidated order. The court can also decide to do this. For you to do it you must write to the court. Say that the defendant is behind with their payments and show the amount that is owed to you.

A consolidated order means that the employer will take one amount from the defendant's wages to cover all the orders. Payments will be held at the court until the court has received a certain percentage of the total debt (usually 10%). The court then divides this up according to the size of each debt between you and the other people who are owed money. They will send you your share of the money. This is called "declaring a dividend".

If a consolidated order is made, it usually means that you receive a smaller amount of money less often than you would under an ordinary attachment of earnings order.

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