Document the default poverty measure: absolute, before housing costs - #534
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docs/outputs.md gains a 'Which measure to headline' section under Poverty. It says PolicyEngine headlines absolute poverty before housing costs in the UK (absolute_bhc), lists the other measures calculate_uk_poverty_rates and calculate_us_poverty_rates return, and gives the reasons. Relative poverty tracks inequality: the line is 60% of each simulation's own median, so it moves with the reform. After-housing-costs measures subtract housing spending, much of it discretionary. It also documents the absolute line itself: HBAI's FYE 2011 line uprated by CPI. DWP moved its reference year to FYE 2025 in March 2026, so rates on this line are lower than DWP's current absolute figures. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
…line' HBAI's absolute reference year is FYE 2025 from FYE 2022 (March 2026 release): 60% of the unrounded FYE 2025 medians, 431.69 BHC / 373.89 AHC a week (HBAI table 2.4ts). policyengine-uk follows the same split from 2.102.3 (PolicyEngine/policyengine-uk#1889); say so, and that earlier versions use the FYE 2011 line throughout. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Fixes #533
Adds "Which measure to headline" to the Poverty section of
docs/outputs.md:absolute_bhc,in_poverty_bhc). The section also lists the other measurescalculate_uk_poverty_ratesandcalculate_us_poverty_ratesreturn.in_relative_poverty_bhc), so a reform that raises the median raises the line.household.poverty.absolute_poverty_threshold_bhc/_ahc). Since March 2026 DWP uses FYE 2025 as the reference year for FYE 2022 onward: £431.69 BHC / £373.89 AHC a week (HBAI table 2.4ts). policyengine-uk follows the same split from 2.102.3 (Rebase absolute poverty line to HBAI's FYE 2025 reference year policyengine-uk#1889). The pin bump that brings it to policyengine.py is Bump policyengine-uk to 2.102.3 for the FYE 2025 absolute poverty line #536 (issue Bump policyengine-uk to pick up the FYE 2025 absolute poverty line #535); merge this PR with or after it. Earlier versions use the FYE 2011 line.Docs and changelog only; no code changes.
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