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UK: track the defects uk-data is fixing that microcosm still has #1095

Description

@juaristi22

This issue tracks defects that PolicyEngine/policyengine-uk-data PRs and issues fix or report and that microcosm still has. Each review records the last uk-data item it covered. The next review starts at the following number, updates this body, and posts a comment that lists what changed.

Audit record

How to update this issue

  1. List uk-data items numbered above the last one covered: gh api "repos/PolicyEngine/policyengine-uk-data/issues?state=all&sort=created&direction=desc&per_page=30".
  2. Check each new item against microcosm main and the open microcosm PRs, and add it to the right section below.
  3. Re-check the merge state of the uk-data and policyengine-uk PRs named here.
    • Tick an item once microcosm main has the fix, and name the PR.
    • Move an engine item up once its policyengine-uk change is in the lock.
  4. Update the audit record (date, time, last item covered, refs) and post a comment summarising the changes.

Fix in microcosm now: no policyengine-uk change needed

Depends on policyengine-uk model updates

microcosm locks policyengine-uk 2.100.0. Since 2.102.4, policyengine-uk requires a policyengine-core that the certified US default refuses, so no release from 2.102.4 on can be locked until #1086 is resolved. Each item names the policyengine-uk change it needs and that change's state on 2 October 2026.

  • Legacy-benefit reporters never move to UC. uk-data#492.
    • Needs:
      • a policyengine-uk input for claiming UC at legacy closure (uk-data#492's option b; not yet filed);
      • income-related ESA made exclusive with UC;
      • pe-uk#1910, working-age HB abolition (open).
    • Measured:
      • 552.6k working-age benefit units report HB, tax credits, IS, income-based JSA or income-related ESA and have would_claim_uc False: 313.6k on FRS rows and 239.1k on SPI rows.
      • 2.100.0 already closes tax credits, IS and income-based JSA, so those reporters lose the benefit today.
      • Income-related ESA is paid whatever the flag says.
    • Why the data alone can't fix it: anchoring in the data (option a) fails here, because HB and CTC require ~would_claim_uc in the 2025 calibration year.
    • Next step: bring DWP's Move to UC claim rates by cohort in through PolicyEngine/chronicle. They are the new evidence that WS-E spine deferrals: known bugs and signed inconsistencies awaiting their increment #796 asks for before the frozen 0.55 rate changes.
  • Rent liability for sharers, sub-tenants, boarders and lodgers. uk-data#511, uk-data#512, uk-data#508, uk-data#506.
    • Needs: pe-uk#2006, pe-uk#1995 and pe-uk#2002, all draft.
    • Shared households: rent is the whole dwelling's HHRENT, placed on the household head (uk_runtime/frs_spine.py:829). About 685k calibrated benefit units in shared households (353k on FRS rows, 332k on SPI rows) have no rent of their own.
    • Sub-letting: SUBRENT sits in property_income. microcosm's own household subrent column is redrawn for SPI copies and read by nothing. Ruling needed: does SPI INCPROP already include rent-a-room receipts?
    • Boarders and lodgers: CVPAY, the rent they pay (£0.81bn), is not carried.
    • Plan: port all three as one change at the bump.
  • Pension Credit reported capital. uk-data#513.
    • Needs: pe-uk#2018 (open).
    • Fix: set pension_credit_reported_capital to frs_benunit_capital (TOTCAPB4, which equals TOTCAPB3 for 81% of PC reporters).
    • Smaller here than in uk-data, because microcosm already strips pension wealth from corporate_wealth. Deemed income from the engine's capital reaches the reported PC for 11.6% of FRS-row PC reporters, against 1.7% with FRS capital.
  • Severe disability flag. uk-data#494.
    • Needs: pe-uk#1946 (draft, stacked on pe-uk#1896).
    • Where: uk_runtime/frs_disability.py:282-284 uses the old definition. 0.55m of the 4.93m people it flags fail the tax-credit condition.
    • Plan: change it in lockstep with the engine, because on 2.100.0 the flag still drives the severe disability premium.
  • Secured debt and the share/trust split. uk-data#501.
  • Property in UC capital. uk-data#495.
    • Needs:
      • pe-uk#1950 (open);
      • a policyengine-uk change, not yet filed, so that dataset-reported capital adds property rather than replacing it.
    • Why: TOTCAPB4 holds no property, so once pe-uk#1950 lands no landlord benefit unit meets UC's property test.
    • Order: land the dividend fix above first.
  • Person-type variables. uk-data#486.
    • Needs: pe-uk#1896 (open).
    • At that bump:
      • export is_hbai_dependent_child and the claimant-or-partner flag from the FRS roles;
      • update the UC take-up population in uk_runtime/frs_take_up.py:51-62, which mirrors the old is_uc_eligible. Its lockstep test pins the deprecated is_WA_adult, so the drift would pass silently.
  • Mixed-age couple Pension Credit saving. uk-data#519.
    • Needs: pe-uk#1940 (open).
    • Why: microcosm stores no birth year and holds ages fixed across model years. The model's default test (older member born 1954 or earlier, computed as model year minus age) therefore drifts one cohort a year.
    • Fix: set has_mixed_age_couple_pension_credit_saving at build time from survey-year facts.
  • Marriage Allowance. uk-data#502.
  • Published LHA rates. pe-uk#2022 (draft). The locked engine computes LHA rates from its own copied list of rents, so Weight UK BRMA assignment by census private-rented households #1087's weights reach published rates only after this bump.
  • Pension-age Housing Benefit new claims. pe-uk#1901, merged and released in 2.102.5; locking it needs policyengine-uk 2.102.4+ needs policyengine-core 3.32.9+, which the certified US default refuses #1086.
  • Director dividends and owner-managers.
    • Needs: pe-uk#1965 (draft) for the owner-manager inputs.
    • Data gap: neither repository reads adult DIVIDNET or job DIVIDEND (£12–20bn a year net).

Already handled in microcosm

These need no new work and are listed so later reviews skip them.

Not applicable

  • uk-data#505: microcosm never simulates the SPI tape, and region UNKNOWN exists only on the donor table. One optional check: composite and address-abroad donors hold 18% of SPI dividends.

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