No Council Tax Rebate in Northern Ireland; add its £200 Alternative Fuel Payment

changelog.d/2724.fixed.md

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Counted the 2022 Energy Bills Rebate (the Energy Bills Support Scheme credit and the £150 Council Tax Rebate) in HBAI household net income as miscellaneous income, as DWP's HBAI does, and paid the one-off Council Tax Rebate in 2022-23 only rather than again in 2023-24.

changelog.d/2725.fixed.md

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Applied the trading allowance to income not otherwise charged (ITTOIA 2005 Part 5 Chapter 8), sharing one allowance with trade receipts, through a new optional `income_not_otherwise_charged` input that defaults to zero. Means tests and gross income bases now read `miscellaneous_income_before_trading_allowance`, so the income tax relief does not reach them.

changelog.d/ni-alternative-fuel-payment.added.md

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Added Northern Ireland's £200 Alternative Fuel Payment (`ebr_alternative_fuel_payment`), paid with the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme amount in January 2023, so a Northern Ireland household's Energy Bills Rebate totals the £600 the December 2022 direction set.

changelog.d/ni-council-tax-rebate.fixed.md

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Stopped paying the 2022 £150 Council Tax Rebate in Northern Ireland, which levies domestic rates rather than council tax and had no rebate. The enhanced FRS gives every Northern Ireland household band A, so the model had paid it to all of them.

docs/book/programs/gov/treasury/cost-of-living-payments.md

@@ -2,31 +2,81 @@
 
 In response to the 2021-23 cost-of-living crisis the UK government
 announced two distinct one-off support packages. Both are modelled in
-PolicyEngine UK under `gov.treasury.*` and feed into household net
-income via [`gov_spending`](https://github.com/PolicyEngine/policyengine-uk/blob/main/policyengine_uk/variables/gov/gov_spending.py)
-and the HBAI benefit aggregates.
+PolicyEngine UK under `gov.treasury.*` and count in household net income
+and in [`gov_spending`](https://github.com/PolicyEngine/policyengine-uk/blob/main/policyengine_uk/variables/gov/gov_spending.py).
+Both also count in HBAI household net income, the income behind the poverty
+statistics, though under different HBAI headings (see below).
 
 ## Energy Bills Rebate (winter 2022)
 
 Announced by the Chancellor in February 2022 to help households with the
 spike in domestic energy prices. Two strands:
 
 - **£150 Council Tax Rebate** for households in Council Tax bands A–D in
-  England, paid in April 2022. Equivalent payments were made by the
-  devolved administrations.
-- **£200 Energy Bills Credit** delivered via energy suppliers to all
-  domestic electricity customers from October 2022. Originally announced
-  as a repayable loan, the repayment requirement was scrapped at the May
-  2022 emergency support package.
+  England, a one-off in 2022-23. Households qualified on their band on 1
+  April 2022. The guidance asked billing authorities to pay from April and
+  set 30 September 2022 as the deadline for the payments the government
+  would reconcile (paragraph 7). Scotland and Wales paid their own £150
+  awards to bands A–D, and also to Council Tax Reduction recipients in any
+  band, which the model leaves out. Northern Ireland levies domestic rates,
+  not council tax, and had no Council Tax Rebate, so the model pays none
+  there whatever the household's council tax band (the enhanced FRS gives
+  every Northern Ireland household band A, the default policyengine-uk-data
+  assigns when the FRS records no band).
+- **Energy Bills Support Scheme**, a £400 discount on domestic electricity
+  bills in Great Britain, paid in six monthly instalments from October 2022
+  to March 2023 (£66 for two months, then £67). Announced in February 2022
+  as a repayable £200, it became a £400 grant in the May 2022 support
+  package. Northern Ireland paid £600 in one go from January 2023: £400 of
+  support and a £200 Alternative Fuel Payment, to each domestic electricity
+  customer on 2 January 2023, whatever fuel the household heats with (EBSS
+  AFP NI Direction, 23 December 2022, paragraph 3 and footnote 1). Great
+  Britain's £200 Alternative Fuel Payment, for households that heat with
+  heating oil, LPG, biomass and other alternative fuels, is not modelled.
 
 PolicyEngine models these via:
 
 - `energy_bills_rebate` (Household, YEAR) = `ebr_council_tax_rebate` +
-  `ebr_energy_bills_credit`
+  `ebr_energy_bills_credit` + `ebr_alternative_fuel_payment`
 - Parameters at `parameters/gov/treasury/energy_bills_rebate/`:
-  - `energy_bills_credit.yaml` — the £200 flat household amount
+  - `energy_bills_credit_monthly.yaml` — the Great Britain monthly
+    instalments
+  - `energy_bills_credit_northern_ireland.yaml` — the Northern Ireland
+    £400 in January 2023
+  - `alternative_fuel_payment_northern_ireland.yaml` — the Northern Ireland
+    £200 Alternative Fuel Payment, paid with the £400
+  - `energy_bills_credit.yaml` — a yearly top-up, zero by default, kept for
+    reforms
   - `council_tax_rebate/bands.yaml` — qualifying CT bands (A–D)
-  - `council_tax_rebate/amount.yaml` — the £150 rebate amount
+  - `council_tax_rebate/amount.yaml` — £150 in 2022-23 and nothing in any
+    other year
+
+`ebr_energy_bills_credit` sums the monthly instalments within each calendar
+year, so a Great Britain household on the scheme throughout gets £199 in
+2022 and £201 in 2023, while HBAI counts the whole £400 in 2022-23. Each
+month takes the scheme of the household's `country` in that calendar year.
+A situation that sets Northern Ireland for 2022 only therefore gets the
+Great Britain credit from January to March 2023, and no Alternative Fuel
+Payment, because `country` is not carried forward and defaults to England.
+
+HBAI classifies both strands as miscellaneous income, not state support,
+and DWP imputes receipt because the FRS did not ask about them. So
+`energy_bills_rebate` is in `hbai_household_net_income` but not in
+`hbai_benefits`. No FRS income field behind `miscellaneous_income` holds
+the rebates, so the model counts them once.
+
+HBAI income takes the same calendar-year sum as household net income and
+government spending. A Great Britain household in bands A to D on the
+scheme throughout gets £349 in 2022 and £201 in 2023, where HBAI counts
+£550 in 2022-23. A Northern Ireland household gets nothing in 2022 and £600
+in 2023, though its main rollout began on 16 January 2023, in 2022-23.
+The direction set 31 March 2023 as the normal deadline for providing it, and
+let suppliers reissue vouchers and cheques that customers could redeem until
+30 June 2023 (paragraph 12(b)). Summing the
+credit by financial year would move all three measures together. `epg_subsidy` sums the Energy Price Guarantee by
+calendar year in the same way; it counts in household net income and
+government spending but not in HBAI income. The model keeps one timing for
+both schemes for now.
 
 ## Cost-of-Living Payments (2022-23 and 2023-24)
 
@@ -62,4 +112,5 @@ will collect all three payments. This matches the actual policy.
 - [HMT/DWP, May 2022 cost-of-living support package announcement](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/millions-of-most-vulnerable-households-will-receive-1200-of-help-with-cost-of-living)
 - DWP, [Cost-of-Living Payments 2023-24 guidance](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/cost-of-living-payments-2023-to-2024) (means-tested, pensioner and disability strands).
 - HMT, [Energy Bills Support Scheme](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-energy-bills-support-scheme-explainer) and [Council Tax Energy Rebate](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-council-tax-rebate-2022-23-billing-authority-guidance).
+- DWP, [HBAI quality and methodology information report, FYE 2023](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023/households-below-average-income-series-quality-and-methodology-information-report-fye-2023) (treatment of the cost-of-living support schemes in HBAI income).
 - House of Commons Library briefing [CBP-9501 — Cost of Living Payments and the energy crisis](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9501/).

policyengine_uk/data/uprating_indices.yaml

@@ -116,6 +116,8 @@ gov.economic_assumptions.yoy_growth.obr.per_capita.gdp:
 - lump_sum_income
 - maintenance_income
 - miscellaneous_income
+# Part of miscellaneous_income, so it grows with it.
+- income_not_otherwise_charged
 - mortgage_capital_repayment
 - net_financial_wealth
 - non_residential_property_value

policyengine_uk/parameters/gov/treasury/energy_bills_rebate/alternative_fuel_payment_northern_ireland.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+description: >-
+  Northern Ireland provides this one-off Alternative Fuel Payment to eligible
+  domestic electricity customers, with its Energy Bills Support Scheme amount.
+values:
+  2022-01-01: 0
+  2023-01-01: 200
+  2023-02-01: 0
+metadata:
+  unit: currency-GBP
+  period: month
+  label: Northern Ireland one-off Alternative Fuel Payment
+  reference:
+    - title: Energy Bills Support Scheme and Alternative Fuel Payment Northern Ireland direction, paragraph 3 ("EBSS") and footnote 1
+      href: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63a59ed48fa8f5654fe0a812/ebss-ni-direction.pdf#page=2
+    - title: Households across Northern Ireland to start receiving £600 UK government energy support
+      href: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/households-across-northern-ireland-to-start-receiving-600-uk-government-energy-support
+  preserve_calendar_dates: true

policyengine_uk/parameters/gov/treasury/energy_bills_rebate/council_tax_rebate/amount.yaml

@@ -1,8 +1,20 @@
 description: Council Tax rebate paid to households in qualifying Council Tax bands under the Energy Bills Rebate.
+# A one-off £150 per household in 2022-23. Eligibility was fixed at the end of
+# 1 April 2022, and billing authorities had to make every payment by
+# 30 September 2022 (billing authority guidance, paragraphs 7, 14 and 19).
+# 2023-24 had no rebate.
 values:
   0001-01-01: 0
-  2022-01-01: 150
-  2023-10-01: 0
+  2022-04-01:
+    value: 150
+    reference:
+      - title: The Council Tax Rebate 2022-23 billing authority guidance, paragraphs 7, 14 and 19
+        href: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-council-tax-rebate-2022-23-billing-authority-guidance/support-for-energy-bills-the-council-tax-rebate-2022-23-billing-authority-guidance
+  2022-10-01:
+    value: 0
+    reference:
+      - title: The Council Tax Rebate 2022-23 billing authority guidance, paragraph 7 (payments made by 30 September 2022)
+        href: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-council-tax-rebate-2022-23-billing-authority-guidance/support-for-energy-bills-the-council-tax-rebate-2022-23-billing-authority-guidance
 metadata:
   unit: currency-GBP
   period: year

policyengine_uk/parameters/gov/welsh_government/childcare_offer/income/gross_income_sources.yaml

@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ values:
   # education_grants residual can still hold Childcare Grant and Disabled
   # Students' Allowance, because the dataset moves those out only through
   # England-only formulas; and the FRS allpay2 amount reaches both
-  # taxable_miscellaneous_income and private_transfer_income
+  # miscellaneous_income_before_trading_allowance and private_transfer_income
   # (policyengine-uk-data#627).
   2019-08-01:
     - employment_income
@@ -92,6 +92,6 @@ values:
     - savings_interest_income
     - other_investment_income
     - dividend_income
-    - taxable_miscellaneous_income
+    - miscellaneous_income_before_trading_allowance
     - maintenance_income
     - spousal_maintenance_income

policyengine_uk/programs.yaml

@@ -590,6 +590,26 @@ programs:
     verified_end_year: 2023
     notes: Temporary program, ended 2023
 
+  - id: energy_bills_rebate
+    name: Energy Bills Rebate
+    full_name: Energy Bills Rebate, Energy Bills Support Scheme and Alternative Fuel Payment
+    category: Benefits
+    agency: Treasury
+    status: partial
+    coverage: UK
+    variable: energy_bills_rebate
+    parameter_prefix: gov.treasury.energy_bills_rebate
+    verified_start_year: 2022
+    verified_end_year: 2023
+    notes: >-
+      Temporary program, ended 2023. The £150 Council Tax Rebate in bands A to
+      D in Great Britain (none in Northern Ireland, which has domestic rates),
+      the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme, and Northern Ireland's £200
+      Alternative Fuel Payment. Leaves out the Scottish and Welsh £150 for
+      Council Tax Reduction recipients in bands E and above, England's
+      discretionary fund, Great Britain's Alternative Fuel Payment and the
+      alternative funding schemes.
+
   # --- Ofgem programs ---
   - id: energy_price_guarantee
     name: Energy Price Guarantee