Direct Earnings Attachment (DEA) Deductions Suspended
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have confirmed officially that DEA deductions are to be temporarily suspended.
A news alert regarding the Employer Guide indicated that the following change had been made:
Added explanation that benefit debt repayments have been temporarily stopped because of coronavirus (COVID-19). Employers should not make any DEA deductions to employees’ pay in April, May or June 2020.
However, the Employer Guide has not been amended. Instead, the page where this is housed on Gov.UK has been updated with the following statement:
Please contact your software supplier / payroll provider about this. Disabling DEA calculation functionality may not be possible with this short notice given that payrolls for April are being run even now.
At the time of writing, I have not seen an announcement about the temporary suspension of the Northern Ireland’s equivalent Collection Orders. However, this is a fast-moving environment and employers are advised to keep an eye out.
The fact that we have to look out for the situation in Northern Ireland applies to all of the other Orders in fact (Attachment of Earnings, Earnings Arrestments etc).
Payroll Assistant at Rexel UK Ltd
4 年I believe DWP will contact the respective employers regarding this change?
Retired
4 年The CIPP reported this on their newsletter yesterday. Having already received a request from DWP to temporarily change a DEA to a fixed amount, it's a relief that they have taken, what in my option is, a much simpler approach. Added to the already very long list of processing furloughing payments, is identify, and suspend DEA's.
Finance Assistant
4 年Julie McGeever