Your role as an employer
If you have received a letter from the Housing Executive with instructions to implement a DEA, you will be required to:
- calculate the amount to be deducted from your employee’s earnings and
- pay that amount directly to us until the debt has been repaid in full.
It is important to know that employers can be fined £1,000 per employee for not complying with the DEA rules.
Do I need to tell my employee?
The Housing Executive has informed your employee that we have requested you begin the DEA process. But, you do have a duty to tell your employee in writing of:
- the amount of the deduction taken, including any amount taken for administrative costs
- how the deduction amount was calculated
What you need to do
The DEA rules require you to
- Calculate how much has to be deducted from your employee’s salary. For more information please read our:
- Deduct the calculated amount from your employee’s salary
- Complete and return the
You will need to complete and return this payment schedule each time you make a deduction from your employee’s wages.
This will reduce the need for us to contact you.
- Pay NIHE by either BACS or cheque
- Continue to make employee deductions and payments to the Housing Executive at every pay day until either:
- we advise you to stop;
- the employee leaves your employment;
- the employee dies and the salary is paid after the date of the employee’s death;
- the amount to recover is no longer outstanding; or
- we ask you to apply a fixed rate deduction.
It is important to make payments regularly to the Housing Executive in line with your payment cycle.
This will reduce the need for us to contact you.
It is also important that you maintain a record of deductions taken from each employee’s earnings and stop deductions when the debt has been paid in full. This will also reduce the need for us to contact you.
Protected Earnings Threshold
DEA rules require employers to ensure that your employee is left with at least 60% of their net pay.
This is known as the Protected Earnings Amount.
Administrative charges
For each deduction made, you can also take up to £1 from your employee’s pay towards administrative costs.
You can take this charge even if it reduces your employee’s pay below the 60% protected earnings amount.
How to complete a Direct Earnings Attachment Payment Schedule
You will need to complete a Direct Earnings Attachment Payment Schedule each time you make deductions from your employee’s earnings. Download the
This is to ensure we can correctly allocate your payment.
Please complete this as follows:
-
Enter your company name, address and telephone number;
-
Enter your employee’s surname and National Insurance Number;
-
Enter the Housing Executive Unique Reference (Invoice) number. You can find it on the letter we sent you (it is important that you use this to assist in correctly allocating your payment);
-
Enter the amount to be deducted from the employee’s pay;
-
Enter the payment you are using – either by BACS or Cheque; and
-
Enter the date of payment.
Please remember not to include any additional personal information regarding your employee.
It is important that you send the payment schedule each time you make a payment. This will reduce the need for us to contact you.
Where do I send a Direct Earnings Attachment Payment Schedule?
The completed Direct Earnings Attachment Payment Schedule should be sent by:
Housing Benefit Payments
Income Management
1st Floor Housing Centre
2 Adelaide Street
Belfast
BT2 8PB
Multiple DEAs
You may already be making DEA deductions from your employee’s salary for another agency or organisation.
You will still be required to make deductions from your employee’s pay for the Housing Executive. But, you must ensure that your employee is left with at least 60% of their net pay.
It is also important that you pay the correct organisation the monies they are due.
Please read page two of our
This provides details of how to pay us. to obtain details of how to pay us.
This will reduce the need for us to contact you.