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Legacy award readers count income-related ESA and JSA of members who are neither claimant nor partner #2026
Description
esa_income (policyengine_uk/variables/gov/dwp/esa_income.py) sums every benefit-unit member's esa_income_reported, and jsa_income sums every member's jsa_income_reported. These totals are right as household income: another member's award is real income. But a member who is neither the claimant or partner (is_claimant_or_partner) nor a child or young person they are responsible for (is_child_or_young_person_for_legacy_benefits), for example a non-dependent adult, has their award read by means tests and passports that the law ties to the claimant and partner:
| Reader | Law | What another member's award does today |
|---|---|---|
housing_benefit_applicable_income |
SSCBA 1992 s.136(1); HB Regs 2006 reg 25(1) | added to the claimant's income (add_for_members adds benefit-unit variables as they are) |
council_tax_reduction_applicable_income |
CTR (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regs 2012 Sch 1 para 11 | added to the applicant's income |
council_tax_reduction_relevant_income_based_benefit |
CTR (Default Scheme) (England) Regs 2012 Sch, "applicant or his partner is a person on income support ..." | passports the working-age schemes to the maximum reduction |
CTR non-dependant exemption (council_tax_reduction/_legacy.py) |
SI 2012/2885 Sch 1 para 8(8)(a); SI 2012/2886 Sch para 30(8)(a): "a non-dependant who is on ..." | exempts every member of the non-dependant's benefit unit |
tax_credits_applicable_income |
TCA 2002 s.7(2) and SI 2002/2008 reg 4: "the person, or either of the persons" claiming | removes the income test |
is_scp_eligible |
SSI 2020/351 reg 18(e)-(f): the individual responsible for the child has been awarded the benefit | qualifies the child |
is_benefit_cap_exempt_health_disability |
HB Regs 2006 reg 75F(1)(a): "the claimant or the claimant's partner" | exempts the family from the cap |
targeted childcare qualifying_benefits |
SI 2014/2147 reg 2(1): "a young child whose parent is entitled to" | qualifies the family |
maintenance_loan_entitled_to_benefits |
SI 2011/1986 regs 61(2) and 71(1)(h): the student | puts a student living in the claimant's benefit unit on the benefits schedule |
would_claim_IS |
(take-up) | marks the family as claiming Income Support |
Synthetic example: a single claimant aged 40 with no income and an adult aged 30 who reports £5,000 of income-related ESA, with is_claimant_or_partner: false and not in education. Housing Benefit and council tax reduction count the £5,000 as the claimant's income. The working-age council tax reduction passport is on, the tax credit income test is lifted and the family is exempt from the benefit cap.
income_support is already limited to the claimant's and partner's award by #2013. The household totals (esa, household_benefits, HBAI, gov_spending, benefit_cap_reduction) should not change.
Follows #2023 (the Income Support gate). Found while fixing it.
Activity
MaxGhenis commentedon Oct 6, 2026
A reader that none of #2027, #2076 or #2038 changes, found in the review of #2013:
extended_childcare_entitlement_limited_capability_or_specified_benefitreads the benefit unit'sesa_income, whichgov.dfe.extended_childcare_entitlement.disability_criterialists for SI 2022/1134 reg 11A(1)(e). It reads it throughadd(person.benunit, period, group_criteria) > 0.claimant_or_partner_esa_incomewould be the natural replacement.Two related readers are already covered:
in_receipt_of_income_support_jsa_ib_or_esa_ir(from Disregard the whole income and capital of Housing Benefit claimants on IS, income-based JSA or income-related ESA #2000), is in Count only the claimant's and partner's legacy awards in means tests and passports #2027's follow-up list.🤖 Generated with Claude Code