PolicyEngine / PolicyEngine/policyengine-uk
WTC 30-hour element is CPI-uprated instead of using the 2024-25 rate
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- Dominant language
- Python
- Stars
- 50
- Forks
- 33
- Avg merge
- 20h 58m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 14
Description
Problem
policyengine_uk/parameters/gov/dwp/tax_credits/working_tax_credit/elements/worker.yaml stops at 2021-04-06: 830 and relies on gov.benefit_uprating_cpi. That makes the 2024-25 Working Tax Credit 30-hour element evaluate to about GBP 1,010.22 in PE-UK.
Official HMRC/legislation sources give GBP 1,015 for the 2024-25 30-hour element:
- HMRC Tax Credits Technical Manual TCTM03101: https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/tax-credits-technical-manual/tctm03101
- Spring Budget 2024 Annex A rates and allowances: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-budget-2024-overview-of-tax-legislation-and-rates-ootlar/annex-a-rates-and-allowances
- The Working Tax Credit (Entitlement and Maximum Rate) Regulations 2002 Schedule 2: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2005/schedule/2/2024-04-06
Expected
The 2024-25 WTC 30-hour element should match the official GBP 1,015 rate. A likely fix is to add an explicit 2024-25 value to the worker element parameter, but the broader WTC parameter handling after tax credits ended on 5 April 2025 should also be audited before changing future-year behavior.
Context
This surfaced while adding Axiom RuleSpec coverage for UKSI 2002/2005 Schedule 2. The Axiom oracle mapping is treating this specific output as known-not-comparable until PE-UK is fixed.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start with policyengine_uk/parameters/gov/dwp/tax_credits/working_tax_credit/elements/worker.yaml and compare its dated values with the HMRC manual, Spring Budget Annex A, and the 2024-04-06 regulations. Review the surrounding Working Tax Credit parameter handling and the Axiom RuleSpec coverage that exposed the mismatch. Done means the 2024-25 30-hour element matches GBP 1,015 and future-year behavior is checked against the tax-credit end date.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- yaml
- Domain
- backend
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 68/100