From 31704fd516ab3634230b3db4ab95c052437e5bdb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: =?UTF-8?q?Mar=C3=ADa=20Juaristi?= <127882282+juaristi22@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2026 06:08:56 +0100 Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Document deferred Housing Benefit child-allowance rules --- changelog.d/2232.changed.md | 1 + .../housing-benefit-child-allowances.md | 116 ++++++++++++++++++ .../gov/dwp/housing_benefit/README.md | 10 ++ 3 files changed, 127 insertions(+) create mode 100644 changelog.d/2232.changed.md create mode 100644 docs/book/assumptions/housing-benefit-child-allowances.md diff --git a/changelog.d/2232.changed.md b/changelog.d/2232.changed.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..85e6f02b0f --- /dev/null +++ b/changelog.d/2232.changed.md @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +- Documented historical Housing Benefit child personal allowance rules and their deferred implementation. diff --git a/docs/book/assumptions/housing-benefit-child-allowances.md b/docs/book/assumptions/housing-benefit-child-allowances.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..4ad96dfb7a --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/book/assumptions/housing-benefit-child-allowances.md @@ -0,0 +1,116 @@ +# Housing Benefit child personal allowances + +PolicyEngine does not currently calculate ordinary child personal allowances in +the Housing Benefit applicable amount. This omission applies before, during and +after the historical two-child restriction. The model calculates an adult +personal allowance from the benefit unit's composition and age, then adds the +premiums selected by `benefits_premiums`. It does not calculate an ordinary +allowance for either the first two children or additional children. See +`housing_benefit_applicable_amount` in +[`policyengine_uk/variables/gov/dwp/housing_benefit/`](https://github.com/PolicyEngine/policyengine-uk/blob/main/policyengine_uk/variables/gov/dwp/housing_benefit/housing_benefit_applicable_amount.py). + +The historical rules below explain the omitted component and the information a +future implementation would need. They do not describe a calculation currently +supported by the model. Historical cash rates and household or population +impacts are outside this page's scope. + +## The historical restriction + +Before the restriction, each qualifying child or young person could contribute +a personal allowance to the applicable amount, the income threshold used in the +Housing Benefit means test. The later default restriction limited these +allowances to two, subject to transitional protection and the Child Tax Credit +assessment described below. It applied to ordinary child personal allowances; +bedroom entitlement and child disability premiums remained separate. See +[DWP Circular A5/2017, paragraphs 2–13](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a820708ed915d74e6235650/a5-2017.pdf). + +The legal dates differ by jurisdiction and age regime: + +| Change | Great Britain | Northern Ireland | +| --- | --- | --- | +| Default restriction began | 6 April 2017 | 11 May 2017 | +| Restriction ended for pension-age Housing Benefit | 8 June 2024 | 8 June 2024 | +| Restriction ended for working-age Housing Benefit | 6 April 2026 | 6 April 2026 | + +The commencement provisions are [SI 2017/376, regulation 1](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2017/376/regulation/1/made) +and [SR 2017/79, regulation 1(2)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2017/79/regulation/1/made). +The pension-age amendments are [SI 2024/611, regulations 1 and 6](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2024/611/made) +and [SR 2024/119, regulations 1 and 5](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2024/119/made). +The working-age amendments are [SI 2026/316, regulations 1, 2 and 4](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/316/made) +and [SR 2026/68, regulations 1, 2 and 4](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2026/68/made). +These are legal commencement dates. An annual model period or annual parameter +sampling convention does not change them. Removing the count restriction did +not remove the other conditions for Housing Benefit or a child allowance. + +## Protection attached to individual children + +Transitional protection applied where the claimant was entitled to Housing +Benefit and the claimant or partner was responsible for more than two children +or young people in the household on 5 April 2017 in Great Britain, or 10 May +2017 in Northern Ireland. The protection attached to those individuals. Making +a new Housing Benefit claim ended that protection. + +Becoming responsible for a new child brought the amended rules into play, while +allowances for the original protected individuals continued under the +transitional provisions. Those individuals also occupied spaces under the +default two-child rule when considering an allowance for a new child. For +example, three protected children remaining in the household plus a new baby +could retain three allowances, assuming no new claim and no more favourable +Child Tax Credit assessment. The new baby did not automatically reduce the +count to two or increase it to four. See [SI 2017/376, regulation 9](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2017/376/regulation/9/made), +[SR 2017/79, regulation 8](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2017/79/regulation/8/made) +and DWP Circular A5/2017, paragraphs 15–16 and example 3. + +## The Child Tax Credit assessment mattered + +Housing Benefit could use the children for whom the ordinary individual Child +Tax Credit element was included in the maximum-rate assessment, where that +produced a higher child-allowance amount. This comparison also preserved the +transitional protected amount as the alternative. The rule applied whether or +not Child Tax Credit was payable. A properly made, fully assessed nil-payment +award could therefore establish that more than two children were included; +an unexplained zero payment could not establish it. See [Housing Benefit +regulation 22(3)–(5), as at 1 April 2025](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2006/213/regulation/22/2025-04-01), +[SR 2017/79, regulation 6](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2017/79/regulation/6/made) +and DWP Circular A5/2017, paragraphs 9–14 and Annex A. + +Historical Child Tax Credit rules retained ordinary child elements for children +born before 6 April 2017 and allowed conditional exceptions for later children, +including multiple births, adoption, non-parental care and non-consensual +conception. The adoption and non-parental-care treatment changed on 28 November +2018. These exceptions required their own conditions and assessment; generic +household flags do not establish them. For example, two existing children plus +twins could give three ordinary child elements where the actual assessment +included one additional twin. Four elements did not follow automatically from +the multiple birth. [HMRC's historical exceptions guidance](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/child-tax-credit-exceptions-to-the-2-child-limit) +sets out the conditions and the 2018 change. + +A positive Child Tax Credit payment also cannot identify the ordinary-child +count. Disability and childcare elements could be included for a child without +an ordinary individual child element. The required information is which +children the ordinary-element assessment included, rather than whether any +Child Tax Credit cash was paid. These historical assessment rules do not imply +that new Child Tax Credit claims remain available today. + +## Implementation remains deferred + +Current ages and family size do not establish which individual children were +protected, whether a later new Housing Benefit claim ended protection, or what +an ordinary-child-element assessment included. A payment amount alone cannot +fill those gaps, and sensitive exception assessments must not be reconstructed +from generic household characteristics. + +[Issue #2232](https://github.com/PolicyEngine/policyengine-uk/issues/2232) +keeps implementation of this component, labelled C1 in the update plan, +deferred. This includes the proposal to implement only unrestricted periods. +A future design needs agreement on the required facts, their data sources, +behaviour when facts are absent, and changes within a year. A pre-assessed +included-child count is one possible interface for that discussion; it is not +a supported model input. This documentation introduces no claim-history or +exception inputs and changes no calculation. + +Child disability premiums and the protected family premium are separate work +under [#2221](https://github.com/PolicyEngine/policyengine-uk/issues/2221) and +[#2223](https://github.com/PolicyEngine/policyengine-uk/issues/2223). This page +does not revive [closed PR #2198](https://github.com/PolicyEngine/policyengine-uk/pull/2198) +or its associated issues. diff --git a/policyengine_uk/parameters/gov/dwp/housing_benefit/README.md b/policyengine_uk/parameters/gov/dwp/housing_benefit/README.md index 99590fce15..60cc6cd1ae 100644 --- a/policyengine_uk/parameters/gov/dwp/housing_benefit/README.md +++ b/policyengine_uk/parameters/gov/dwp/housing_benefit/README.md @@ -1 +1,11 @@ # Housing Benefit + +The default `housing_benefit_applicable_amount` calculation includes an adult +personal allowance and selected premiums. It omits ordinary child personal +allowances, including in periods when no two-child restriction applied. + +See [historical child personal allowances and the deferred implementation](../../../../../docs/book/assumptions/housing-benefit-child-allowances.md) +for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland rules, individual-child protection, +Child Tax Credit assessment requirements and the missing historical facts. +The documentation adds no model input or calculation. Child disability and +protected family premiums remain separate work. From 0d661fb73ce166d4e62480b6f3bcaabdb8ff8d71 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: =?UTF-8?q?Mar=C3=ADa=20Juaristi?= <127882282+juaristi22@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2026 06:23:25 +0100 Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Clarify tax-credit components in Housing Benefit documentation --- .../assumptions/housing-benefit-child-allowances.md | 12 +++++++----- 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/book/assumptions/housing-benefit-child-allowances.md b/docs/book/assumptions/housing-benefit-child-allowances.md index 4ad96dfb7a..6f65002afe 100644 --- a/docs/book/assumptions/housing-benefit-child-allowances.md +++ b/docs/book/assumptions/housing-benefit-child-allowances.md @@ -86,11 +86,13 @@ the multiple birth. [HMRC's historical exceptions guidance](https://www.gov.uk/g sets out the conditions and the 2018 change. A positive Child Tax Credit payment also cannot identify the ordinary-child -count. Disability and childcare elements could be included for a child without -an ordinary individual child element. The required information is which -children the ordinary-element assessment included, rather than whether any -Child Tax Credit cash was paid. These historical assessment rules do not imply -that new Child Tax Credit claims remain available today. +count. The Child Tax Credit disability element could be included for a child +without an ordinary individual child element. Childcare support alone likewise +did not establish that an ordinary individual child element was included. The +required information is which children the ordinary-element assessment included, +rather than whether any Child Tax Credit cash was paid. These historical +assessment rules do not imply that new Child Tax Credit claims remain available +today. ## Implementation remains deferred