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Pension Credit income still omits IIDB, SDA, the AFCS guaranteed income payment and other countable income #1954
Description
Found while fixing Pension Credit income for carers (#1952), which added carers_allowance and carer_support_payment.
gov.dwp.pension_credit.guarantee_credit.income still omits income that SPCA 2002 s.15(1) and SPC Regs 2002 reg 15 count. Items below were checked against legislation.gov.uk on 2026-09-30. Counts are Enhanced FRS 2026, weighted, State Pension age people.
Not in the income list (countable in law):
iidb. Industrial injuries disablement benefit counts, except the reg 15(1)(c) and (e) increases for constant attendance and exceptionally severe disablement. About 66k people, £5.9m of it in benefit units receiving Pension Credit.afcs. The Armed Forces Compensation Scheme guaranteed income payment counts less £10 a week (reg 15(5)(aa); Sch IV para 1(cc)). About 20k people in Pension Credit units, £83m. First check whatafcsholds: FRS code 8 may bundle war pensions, which also count less £10 a week (s.15(1)(g); Sch IV paras 1-2).sda,incapacity_benefit,maternity_allowance: not excepted by reg 15(1).maintenance_income, if it is spousal maintenance (reg 15(5)(d)).- Sublet income: reg 15(5)(i) with the £20 disregard in Sch IV para 9.
property_incomeis counted gross; check it against reg 15(5)(i) and Sch IV para 18. - SSP, SMP, SPP and SAP are earnings under reg 17A(2)(h)-(j), but
pension_credit_earningsdoes not include them.
Other gaps:
savings_credit/excluded_income.yamllacks working tax credit, incapacity benefit, SDA, maternity allowance and maintenance (reg 9(a), (b), (d), (e), (f)).gov.dwp.pension_credit.income.savings_credit_excluded_sourcesis an unused duplicate.pension_credit_incomeapplies no Sch VI earnings disregards.- It deducts all benefit-unit income tax and NI, but reg 17(10) disregards tax only on income taken into account.
- uk-data maps
bsp_reportedfrom FRS codes 6 and 9. If those carry widow's benefits rather than bereavement support payment, excluding them under reg 15(1)(n) is wrong.
Suggested tests: the Hypothesis differential property in test_pension_credit_carer_income_properties.py (#1952), comparing Pension Credit income with HB (SPC) reg 29 income for the same household, extended to these sources.
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Activity
MaxGhenis commentedon Oct 1, 2026
The Schedule VI earnings disregard bullet is now #2019 (paras 1, 3, 4(1), 4A and 5; paras 2-2B and 4(2)-(4) not modelled, as stated there). It moves no FRS Pension Credit reporter's entitlement on the #510 build; the reporter gap is imputed capital (#2018). The other items in this issue are untouched.
Test childcare on gross tax credit income; review fixes
Apply the Pension Credit earnings disregards (SPC Regs 2002 Sch VI)
MaxGhenis commentedon Oct 2, 2026
One more Pension Credit item from the review of #2019, existing behaviour:
pension_credit_earningsadds every benefit-unit member's employment and self-employment income. SPCA 2002 s.5 counts only the claimant's and partner's, aspension_credit_assessable_capitalalready does for capital. Apply the Pension Credit earnings disregards (SPC Regs 2002 Sch VI) #2019's disregard is computed on the claimant's and partner's net earnings only.(Correction: an earlier version of this comment also listed the lone-parent and couple-rate definitions. On main after #1896, a single pensioner with an 18-year-old in upper-secondary education is SINGLE and a lone parent, so that item is already fixed.)
MaxGhenis commentedon Oct 2, 2026
Pension-age Housing Benefit has the same tax deduction issue.
housing_benefit_applicable_incomededucts all benefit-unit income tax and NI, but HB (SPC) Regs 2006 reg 33(12) (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2006/214/regulation/33) disregards tax only "in the case of any income taken into account", the same wording as SPC Regs reg 17(10). The invariant 3 property intest_pension_credit_carer_income_properties.pyadds income tax back for both measures; when this is fixed, tighten it to assert the measures themselves are unchanged (see #2049).Apply review wording: drop the stale cliff figure, say invariant 3 en…
MaxGhenis commentedon Oct 11, 2026
A reproduction for the pension-age Housing Benefit part of this issue (the tax deduction, HB (SPC) Regs 2006 reg. 33(12)), from round 2 of the PolicyBench UK engine audit.
Household (policyengine-uk 2.126.7, 2026): single woman aged 72, council tenant in Cornwall, rent £4,886, State Pension £12,548, private pension £7,760, savings interest £6,559, savings £1,250.
housing_benefit_applicable_incomehousing_benefit_applicable_amountThe savings interest is left out of the income, but the £111.80 of tax on it is deducted. That £111.80 is itself too low because of #1799: the savings starting rate is given although taxable non-savings income exceeds £5,000. So fixing #1799 alone would raise the wrong deduction here.
The same household's pension-age Council Tax Reduction has the same deduction; that part is #2090, with the figures in this comment.
(Edited: this comment first described the Council Tax Reduction case, which #2090 already covers.)