UK pensions after #1084: open rulings, residual gaps and the engine pieces #1069

Status (16 October 2026)

This issue began as the plan for #1084 (work packages WP0 to WP7). #1084 merged on 2 October (fe4e38dfa) and delivered WP0 to WP5 and WP7's HBAI and reform-stability checks. Its measurements and rulings are in experiments/1069-uk-pensions-receipts.md, and the original plan is in this issue's edit history. The body now lists only what is still open.

Delivered since #1084

• State Pension age by date of birth: Set State Pension age from date of birth, including the rise to 67 policyengine-uk#1899 (merged 3 October), in the lock since UK: port the remaining uk-data fixes tracked in #1095, engine items included #1121. uk_runtime/frs_take_up.py reads age_by_birth_date.
• The triple lock computed from its statutory inputs, including the April 2027 rate: Compute the State Pension triple lock from its statutory inputs policyengine-uk#1939 (3 October). Generated-series reforms take effect: Read calendar-year series' bare years as calendar years, and make generated-series reforms take effect policyengine-uk#2404 (14 October). A reform= dictionary still edits parameters after processing, so reforms of the triple-lock inputs go through Scenario(parameter_changes=...).
• Salary sacrifice is predicted only for people with pay: UK spine follow-ups: SPI donors funded, WAS coherence, residential split, Child Benefit, release-cut blockers (#1063) #1089 and UK: policyengine-uk 2.130.1 and the fourth batch of #1095 ports, with the release's weight year, identifiers and birth months fixed #1271.
• The income-tax relief rate bands bind by tax-rate class (UK: port the #1095 fixes that need no new policyengine-uk release #1200). The all-rates total is a diagnostic, and the family's exclusions are retired.
• Employer NI for employees over State Pension age: Charge employer NI on employees over state pension age policyengine-uk#1895 (30 September).

Open in microcosm

Rulings

• Single ages (R3). WP2's 3% acceptance for single ages around State Pension age isn't met. Rule on the split (65, 66, 67–69), or bind the singles beside the five-year band.
• SPI Table 3.8 contributions. Table 3.8 splits contributions by relief mechanism; the engine's columns split them by provider. Rule on binding the combined amounts against employee plus personal contributions.
• Employer NICs relief at 15%. Confirm the restatement from 13.8%, which changes the rate alone.

Work

• The State Pension type boundary. Re-measure the 70–74 boundary, which zig-zagged while state_pension_type keyed on age and sex. Set State Pension age from date of birth, including the rise to 67 policyengine-uk#1899 is in the lock, and UK: policyengine-uk 2.130.1 and the fourth batch of #1095 ports, with the release's weight year, identifiers and birth months fixed #1271 adds birth months to the spine.
• Pension Credit spending by component. Only OBR's total is bound; the Guarantee Credit and Savings Credit split is not.
• The salary-sacrifice anchor. uk/salary_sacrifice_anchor.json is still vendored by hand (unchanged since 21 August). Vendor it from Chronicle; the values already match the feed. WS-C deferred adjudications and the reconciliation layer #736 lists the same item.
• State Pension in the SPI bands and below the tax threshold. The £20–30k and £30–40k State Pension bands sit above target on the first national build after Draw SPI-channel incomes at the FRS twin's conditional rank (#840) #1256 (UK SPI channel after #840: residuals, post-merge measurements and stale pointers #1288). Non-taxpayer State Pension is short of what HMRC and DWP imply. UK SPI channel after #840: residuals, post-merge measurements and stale pointers #1288's item on State-Pension-only twins, drawn against a tape of mostly taxpayers, may explain part of both.
• WP7's DWP path. Compare the baseline State Pension and Pension Credit path with DWP's forecast to FY2030-31, once the engine items below are in the lock.

Blocked on policyengine-uk

• Pension Credit FY2025-26 rates and the Savings Credit projection: Correct 2025-26 Pension Credit rates and the Savings Credit projection policyengine-uk#2083 (open). Until it lands, Pension Credit calibrates at the engine's current values.
• Additional State Pension and protected payments uprated by CPI: Uprate additional State Pension and protected payments by CPI, not the flat rate policyengine-uk#1941, with PR Uprate additional State Pension and protected payments by September CPI policyengine-uk#2336 (both open).
• Winter Fuel Payment recovery above £35,000: Model Winter Fuel Payment high-income recovery separately from entitlement policyengine-uk#1760 (open). DWP's recipient count stays a diagnostic until it lands.
• No policyengine-uk issue or PR found yet (check before filing):
  • the basic-to-new State Pension reclassification double count;
  • a guard against datasets that carry a state_pension column;
  • the income-tax easement switch for pensioners whose only income is the State Pension (original decision 10);
  • Pension Age Disability Payment, so Attendance Allowance in Scotland can bind.
• The original decisions 9 (the Pension Credit guarantee after 2026) and 10 (the easement switch) belong to the engine side.

Related

• Multi-year runs: UK static aging: ONS 2024-based projection reader and weights-only annual projections to 2050-51 #1075 and UK State Pension projection bundle: entitlement sidecar, abroad dataset, manifest and scorecard for PolicyEngine UK #1076 (microcosm-dynamics#501).
• Pension wealth: UK source packages: ONS WAS Round 8 household wealth distribution (total wealth, components, percentile aggregates) chronicle#205.
• One permanent signed reference exclusion in uk/target_reference_signed_exclusions.json names this issue. It is provenance with no expiry, and needs no action when this issue closes.

Done when

• The three rulings are recorded.
• The open microcosm items are bound, vendored or re-measured, with receipts.
• The engine items are in the lock, and the WP7 DWP path has been run.