Scottish Earnings Arrestments – Calculation changes from 6 April 2009

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In last week’s newsletter we reported the changes that had been passed by the Scottish Parliament to the calculation procedures for Earnings Arrestments and Current Maintenance Arrestments. Insufficient notice was given for an implementation date of 6 April 2009.

The announcement in the Executive Note that accompanied the new Regulations was of some embarrassment to the Institute of Payroll Professionals (IPP) in that is suggested that the changes had been made based partially on comments received from the IPP. It also admitted that no formal public consultation had been carried out.

The IPP has reacted strongly to the suggestion that it had in any way approved the introduction of the changes at such short notice. In a strongly worded letter to Fergus Ewing MSP, who attended the IPP’s annual conference in 2007 and indicated that there would be consultation on the proposals during 2008, the IPP has asked for implementation of the new calculations to be delayed to a later date, providing time for developers to amend their software and proper guidance to be issued to employers.

Andrew Dove, chairman of the BASDA HR & Payroll Specialist Interest Group, has also complained to the Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament about the lack of notice given for the changes and has asked that the legislation be considered for annulment. The procedure to review new statutory instruments with a view to annulment is a peculiar feature of Scottish parliamentary procedure. The new regulations were considered for annulment on 17 March but Andrew has received confirmation that the legislation will again be added to the list of orders to be considered for annulment on 31 March.

Further information:
Letter to Fergus Ewing MP
Andrew Dove’s response on The Payroll Blog
Subordinate Legislation Committee Agenda, 17 March 2009

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 05:00 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.