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Add the Housing Benefit permitted-work earnings disregard

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@anth-volk is already working on this.

Since Oct 9, 2026.

  • #2219 by @anth-volk — open

Assessment

Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Newbie friendliness
15/100
Issue type
Feature
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
python
Domain
backend

Research direction

Start from policyengine_uk/variables/gov/dwp/housing_benefit/applicable_income/housing_benefit_applicable_income_disregard.py, the variable that must gain the permitted-work replacement for the standard disregard, then read the other three files the issue names. Pull request #2219 is already open against this issue, so check it before starting. Done means the new pre-assessed amount is applied with lone-parent precedence and the net-earnings cap, with focused tests and a changelog entry.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Summary

Approved plan C6 adds one annual pre-assessed permitted-work earnings disregard and integrates it as a replacement for the ordinary standard disregard. The input delegates the statutory scheme, work earnings and partner allocation limits; no new ESA entitlement or work-qualification model is introduced. Four files and one GBP input. Working-age earnings disregards (Paragraphs 3–10, 10A and 17: ordinary, special, permitted-work and additional earnings disregards); Pension-age earnings disregards (Paragraphs 3–7, 5A and 9: pension-age distinctions); NI Housing Benefit permitted-work disregard (405) (Schedule 5 paragraph 10A); NI Housing Benefit permitted-work disregard (406) (Schedule 5 paragraph 5A)

Audited model surface

  • Audited release: policyengine-uk 2.106.1
  • Audit unit: variable:housing_benefit_applicable_income_disregard
  • Last model modification: 2026-03-06
  • Explicitly reviewed units:
    • variable:housing_benefit_applicable_income_disregard — last model modification: 2026-03-06
  • Audit date: 2026-10-09
  • Periods reviewed: Current working-age and pension-age permitted-work disregards
  • Jurisdictions: Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Findings and implementation parts

1. The ordinary earnings disregard omits the permitted-work replacement and its lone-parent and additional-disregard interactions.

Sources: Working-age earnings disregards (Paragraphs 3–10, 10A and 17: ordinary, special, permitted-work and additional earnings disregards); Pension-age earnings disregards (Paragraphs 3–7, 5A and 9: pension-age distinctions); NI Housing Benefit permitted-work disregard (405) (Schedule 5 paragraph 10A); NI Housing Benefit permitted-work disregard (406) (Schedule 5 paragraph 5A)

Uncertainties and exclusions

No verified dataset mapping. Omitted/zero amount retains the ordinary-disregard approximation and may understate qualifying awards. A positive input must already satisfy the applicable statutory permitted-work and partner limits; it is not gross work income and does not prove entitlement to ESA. The additional earnings disregard remains separately conditional.

Dominant language
Python
Stars
50
Forks
34
Avg merge
2d 11h
Merged PRs (30d)
162

Getting set up

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

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