Model Housing Benefit for specified (supported) and temporary accommodation at any age #1911

Problem

Housing Benefit for specified (supported) and temporary accommodation is still open at any age after working-age Housing Benefit was abolished (1 July 2026 in GB, 1 October 2026 in NI; #1910). New claims are allowed by SI 2014/1230 reg 6A(2), and existing awards are saved by SI 2025/1148 art 7(4)(a). It is paid alongside Universal Credit: UC Regs 2013 Sch 1 para 3(h) and (i) exclude these payments from UC "rent payments", so the UC housing element does not cover them. The accommodation types are defined in paras 3A and 3B of that Schedule. Northern Ireland: SR 2016/226 reg 4A(2), with the same structure.

PolicyEngine UK has no input for either kind of accommodation. From 2027-28 the model therefore pays no working-age Housing Benefit at all. DWP's Spring Forecast 2026 (GB, benefit expenditure and caseload tables, sheet "Housing benefits") puts this spending, across all ages, at:

The FRS excludes "those in prison and those living temporarily in bed and breakfast accommodation" (FRS 2024-25 background and methodology), so part of the temporary accommodation caseload is outside the survey frame altogether.

Proposal

• Add a benefit-unit (or household) input for living in specified accommodation or temporary accommodation. It defaults to False.
• When it is True:
  • Housing Benefit is claimable at any age and alongside UC. This is a third route in housing_benefit_eligible that ignores would_claim_uc, and housing_benefit_payable_share should not end it.
  • The UC housing costs element excludes that rent.
  • The pre-existing mutual-exclusion invariant (no family receives both HB and UC) is relaxed for these families only.
• Hand-checked YAML tests for a working-age UC claimant in a refuge and for a pension-age claimant in temporary accommodation.
• Imputation belongs in policyengine-uk-data, and the calibration question comes with it: the OBR HB total includes this spending, which the model cannot currently produce.