Oxford Council Tax Reduction assesses Universal Credit claimants on legacy income, not Appendix 3 #2520

Oxford's Council Tax Reduction scheme assesses a working-age applicant who receives Universal Credit on different income from everyone else. The model does not.

• The scheme (2026-27):
  • Part 1 paras 14-27 (and Annexes 5 and 6) apply only to pensioners and to working-age applicants who do not receive UC. Para 18 deducts 50% of pension contributions.
  • For UC recipients, Appendix 3 says income is "net earned income (as provided by DWP)" plus the UC award, ignoring the transitional element. Other income is counted weekly.
  • DWP's net earned income deducts relievable pension contributions in full (UC Regs 2013 reg 55(5)(a)).
• The model: oxford_council_tax_reduction reads council_tax_reduction_applicable_income for every working-age family, with or without a UC award. That variable is the legacy calculation, with Oxford's share of pension contributions from Give Council Tax Reduction and Income Support their own pension contribution shares #2516.
  • So a UC claimant is assessed on the legacy income, not on Appendix 3's.
  • A reform of Oxford's pension contribution share moves UC claimants too, which the scheme would not.

The four other modelled councils route UC claimants through _legacy.py (uc_earned_income + uc_unearned_income + universal_credit). The earned-income figure that route uses is #1986.

Fix: give Oxford's UC applicants Appendix 3's income: DWP net earned income (per person, after tax, NI and relievable pension contributions, before the work allowance; see #1986's sketch) plus the UC award less any transitional element, plus weekly unearned income. Pin it with YAML cases from the scheme text.