Part 4: Enforcement of Judgments and Orders Schedule 15: Attachment of earnings orders: deductions at fixed rates Section 92: Attachment of earnings orders: finding the debtor’s current employer
427.This section inserts sections 15A to 15D into the AEA 1971 to enable HMRC information to be provided to the courts for the purpose of re-directing a lapsed AEO.
428.Section 15A enables the High Court, county courts, magistrates’ courts and fines officers, where an AEO has lapsed (where the debtor has changed employment but has failed to notify the court in accordance with his obligations in section 15(a) of the AEA 1971), to request HMRC to provide the name and address of the debtor’s current employer for the purpose of re-directing the AEO. However, no request may be made under this section unless regulations governing the use and supply of debtor information are in force, having been made under section 15B(5) and (8). Section 15A enables HMRC to provide information to comply with a request, disapplies any legal restrictions that might otherwise apply in relation to the disclosure and also enables contractors who hold information on behalf of HMRC to disclose information pursuant to such a request.
429.Section 15B creates an offence where information obtained pursuant to section 15A is used or disclosed other than for a purpose connected with enforcement of the relevant AEO. Section 15C enables the Lord Chancellor to make regulations under section 15B, with the agreement of the Commissioners and subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. Section 15D sets out various definitions of terms used in sections 15A to 15C.