Council Tax in Wales: Income thresholds for Attachment of Earnings Orders

A rocky mountain valley with a lake at the bottom of the valley in Wales.

CAP responded to the Welsh Government’s consultation for views on their proposal to amend earnings thresholds for Attachment of Earnings Orders (AEO) used by local authorities to collect unpaid council tax. We agreed with the policy intention to uprate the earnings thresholds in line with cost of living, asking for this to be done annually in future. We also shared our views on the weakness of the current legislative approach of deducting a fixed percentage of net earnings. Within the current framework, we suggested deductions be made progressively, similar to income tax bands, but also proposed the adoption of an income and expenditure approach, similar to the County Court Attachment of Earnings process.