COMMONS AMENDMENT (Hansard, 19 May 1970)

§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR
My Lords, I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 8. Under Clause 11(8), where an application is made for an administration order the courts may make an attachment of earnings order to secure the payment required by the administration order. Section 148 of the County Courts Act 1959 under which administration orders are at present made does not provide for such an order to be made only on application, although in practice it is usually made on the application of the debtor. Under the Bill the court will have power to make an administration order of its own motion where application is made for an attachment of earnings order in respect of a judgment debt. The Amendment to Clause 11(8) will therefore enable the court to make an attachment of earnings order to secure the payment required by an administration order, whether the administration order was made on application or by the court of its own motion.

VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSS
My Lords, although this is not one of the most important Amendments on enforcement of debt, it is an instance of the greater interplay that has been put into the Bill between attachment of earnings orders and administration orders. There are some very important new clauses to which we shall come, but this Amendment provides a little more flexibility. I am extremely grateful to the Government for having given so much further thought to this matter. I believe that the Bill has been considerably improved since it left this House, and this is one small instance. I should like to comment on a few of the others later on.

§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR
My Lords, I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 9. This new subsection deals with the case in which there is already an attachment of earnings order in force when an administration order is made. This may happen either where, on an application for an attachment order or administration order, it is found that an attachment order is already in force in respect of the same debtor; or where on an application for an attachment order the court has made an attachment order for the purpose of diverting the debtor's earnings pending the making of an administration order. In either case, if the court wished to attach the debtor's earnings to secure the payments under the administration order, it would be inconvenient, especially for the employer, if the existing attachment order had to be revoked and replaced by a new one. The new subsection accordingly enables the court to direct that the existing attachment order shall take effect with any necessary variation as an order to secure the payments required by the administration order.