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Attachment of earnings, third party debt and charging orders

If a county court judgment is unpaid and the debtor has a job, a bank account or a property, three court orders let you reach those assets without sending an enforcement agent (bailiff) to the door. Each costs £139 from 13 July 2026.

Checked against official sources on 30 September 2026. Court fees from 13 July 2026; enforcement agent fees from 1 May 2026.

Three orders, one fee each

A county court judgment records that money is owed; it does not collect it. The court acts only when the creditor applies, and each application carries a fee. Besides a warrant or writ of control against goods, the Civil Procedure Rules give three ways of reaching a debtor's income, cash or property:

• an attachment of earnings order (form N337, CPR Part 89), under which the debtor's employer deducts money from wages and pays it to the court;
• a third party debt order (form N349, CPR Part 72), which takes money that someone else, usually a bank or building society, owes to the debtor;
• a charging order (form N379 for land, N380 for shares and securities, CPR Part 73), which secures the debt against property the debtor owns.

CPR 70.2(2) allows a creditor to use any available method and to use more than one, at the same time or one after another, so a charging order taken for security is often combined with a method that produces cash. The enforcement chooser compares the options for your debtor.

Attachment of earnings order (N337)

Who it works against. Only an individual with "earnings": wages or salary (including fees, bonus, commission and overtime), an occupational pension, or statutory sick pay (Attachment of Earnings Act 1971 s.24). Social security benefits, tax credits and disability pensions are excluded. The order is directed to the employer, so there is nothing to attach if the debtor is self-employed or the judgment is against a company. No order can be made if the debt, or the balance outstanding, is under £50 (CPR 89.7(14)), and the debtor must first have missed a payment due under the judgment (s.3(3)).

The mechanics. The application goes to the Civil National Business Centre (CPR 89.3). The court serves it on the debtor with reply form N56, a statement of means, which the debtor must return within 8 days (CPR 89.5). You do not need to know who the employer is: the N56 asks the debtor. The court officer may also ask the employer for a statement of earnings. If the reply gives enough information, a court officer can make the order without a hearing; either side may ask within 14 days for a District Judge to reconsider it (CPR 89.7). The order fixes a normal deduction rate and a protected earnings rate, the level below which the debtor's take-home pay will not be reduced (s.6(5)). The employer deducts each pay day, may keep £1 per deduction for administration, and must tell the court within 10 days if the debtor is not, or stops being, employed (s.7). The debtor must tell the court within 7 days of leaving or starting a job (s.15).

The N56 also lets the debtor ask for a suspended order, under which they pay you direct and the employer is only told if they default. If the debtor ignores the N56, the court can order a statement of means served personally with a penal notice, and continued default is transferred to the debtor's home court for the debtor to show why they should not be imprisoned; any committal order is normally suspended on terms (CPR 89.8 and 89.9).

Realistic prospects. Slow but reliable while the debtor stays in the job. The protected earnings rate may leave little to deduct each month, and the order lapses in practice if the debtor changes employer and no one tells the court. The CNBC was taking 4 working days to begin processing these applications in September 2026.

Third party debt order (N349)

What it does. The order requires a third party in England and Wales that owes money to the debtor to pay it to you instead, up to the judgment debt and your costs (CPR 72.2). In practice the third party is almost always a bank or building society holding the debtor's account.

The evidence needed. The application (form N349, verified by a statement of truth) must name the bank, give the branch address and account number or say that you do not know them, and state the sources or grounds of your belief that the account exists (PD 72 paras 1.1–1.2). PD 72 para 1.3 is blunt: "The court will not grant speculative applications for third party debt orders" and will only make an interim order against a bank if the application contains evidence to substantiate the belief that the debtor has an account there. Bank details the debtor gave you for payment, or a cheque, are the usual evidence.

The timetable. A judge considers the application without a hearing and, if satisfied, makes an interim order fixing a hearing not less than 28 days later (CPR 72.4). The interim order must be served on the bank not less than 21 days before the hearing and on the debtor not less than 7 days after the bank and not less than 7 days before the hearing (CPR 72.5). It binds the bank when served: the bank must not let the balance fall below the amount specified, which is the judgment balance plus fixed costs. Within 7 days the bank must search for all accounts in the debtor's name and tell the court and you the account number, whether it is in credit and whether the balance covers the sum specified (CPR 72.6). In practice the order catches what is in the account on the day the bank is served; later credits are not caught, so timing matters. Unless the order says otherwise, only accounts in the debtor's sole name (or jointly held by joint judgment debtors) are affected; an account held jointly with someone else is not (PD 72 paras 3.1–3.2). The bank may deduct £55 for its costs (Attachment of Debts (Expenses) Order 1996).

An individual debtor whose family is suffering hardship in meeting ordinary living expenses because of the freeze can apply for a hardship payment order allowing money out (CPR 72.7). Objections must be in written evidence filed not less than 3 days before the hearing (CPR 72.8). At the hearing the court makes the order final, discharges it, or directs a trial of any disputed issue. Your costs are paid first out of the money recovered (CPR 72.11), and a final order against a building society or credit union account cannot reduce it below £1 (PD 72 para 6).

Realistic prospects. The fastest route to a lump sum when you know the bank and the account is in credit on the day of service. It is also the least used: 210 third party debt orders were made in April–June 2026 against 59,000 warrants of control.

Charging order (N379 or N380)

What it does. A charging order places a charge, in effect a mortgage, over the debtor's interest in land (N379) or in shares and other securities (N380). It gives security, not cash: if the property is sold, the debtor must pay the charge before receiving the proceeds.

The timetable. County court applications go to the Civil National Business Centre, without notice, verified by a statement of truth, giving the judgment details, the amount due, whether instalments are in arrears, any other creditors you know of, the asset and its title number, the debtor's interest in it and the people to be served (CPR 73.3; PD 73 paras 1.1–1.2). A title register from HM Land Registry costs £7 online and shows who owns the property. For land, a court officer may make the interim charging order without a hearing (CPR 73.4). You must then serve the interim order, application and evidence on the debtor, any co-owner, the debtor's spouse or civil partner if known and any other creditors identified, within 21 days, and file certificates of service with a statement of the amount due within 28 days (CPR 73.7). Anyone objecting must do so no later than 28 days after service, in which case the matter is transferred to the debtor's home court for a hearing; otherwise a judge or legal adviser considers it on paper and makes the final charging order (CPR 73.10). The CNBC was taking 13 working days to begin processing applications and 17 to draw final orders in September 2026.

Protecting the order. Both the interim and the final order can, and should, be registered at HM Land Registry (Practice Guide 76). Where the debtor is the sole registered owner the order charges the legal estate and is protected by a notice (form AN1 or UN1). Where the debtor is one of joint owners it charges only their beneficial share and is protected by a Form K restriction on form RX1 with a certified copy of the order.

Order for sale. Turning the charge into money means a separate claim under CPR 73.10C using the Part 8 procedure, brought in the debtor's home court, with evidence of the sums owed, prior mortgages, an estimated sale price and who lives there (PD 73 para 4). The court has a discretion whether to order a sale. The £1,000 minimum in the Charging Orders (Orders for Sale: Financial Thresholds) Regulations 2013 applies only to judgments enforcing Consumer Credit Act regulated agreements; an ordinary small-claim debt has no statutory floor, but the discretion remains.

Realistic prospects. Cheap security that is often combined with a cash-producing method. Where post-judgment interest runs (judgments of £5,000 or more), taking a charging order does not stop it, unlike other enforcement steps. 5,100 charging orders were made in April–June 2026.

Which order fits which debtor

• Employed individual, employer known or unknown: attachment of earnings. If you also know the bank, a third party debt order served just after pay day can catch a lump sum.
• Self-employed individual or sole trader: no attachment of earnings is possible. Consider a third party debt order against a known business account, or a warrant or writ of control against business goods and vehicles (tools of the trade are exempt up to £1,350 in total).
• Company: a third party debt order against the company's bank, or a warrant or writ at the trading address rather than the registered office. Directors are not normally personally liable for a company's judgment debt.
• Owns a house or flat with equity: a charging order for security, alongside a method that produces cash.
• Income is benefits only, no assets: little practical prospect. Benefits are not earnings, basic household goods are exempt from seizure and a frozen account would face a hardship application. Agreed instalments may be the realistic outcome.
• Finances unknown: an order to obtain information (form N316, £69) requires the debtor to answer questions about their means on oath before you choose.

Ask ClaimsBot to talk through your debtor's situation, or use the enforcement chooser.

Fees, costs and time limits

Each £139 fee is added to what the debtor owes: the interim third party debt order includes your fixed costs (PD 72 para 2), and the fee on an attachment of earnings application is allowed as costs (CPR 89.10). Full fee tables are in Court fees, and Help with Fees can cover enforcement fees for eligible applicants.

A warrant or writ of control needs the court's permission once six years have passed since the judgment (CPR 83.2). Parts 71, 72, 73 and 89 contain no equivalent rule, but the court keeps a discretion, and no action may be brought on a judgment more than six years after it became enforceable (Limitation Act 1980 s.24). See Time limits.

Sources

• CPR Part 89 – Attachment of earnings
• Attachment of Earnings Act 1971
• CPR Part 72 – Third party debt orders
• Practice Direction 72 – Third party debt orders
• CPR Part 73 – Charging orders, stop orders and stop notices
• HM Land Registry Practice Guide 76 – Charging orders
• Charging Orders (Orders for Sale: Financial Thresholds) Regulations 2013
• Civil court fees (EX50), updated 13 July 2026