The DWP is still making the benefit available to second and third wives, and it’s being increased from April.
The DWP still makes a benefit available for polygamous marriages (Image: Getty)
The DWP is still paying out a benefit worth as much as £6,513 to people who are second or third wives living in the UK, and the amount is being increased by another £299 from April. A very unusual set of fully legal circumstances allows people to claim £119.50 per week in Pension Credit or Housing Benefit, and this is being increased by the DWP by another 4.8% in line with wage growth in 2026, to £125.25.
The DWP has confirmed in its benefits uprating list for 2025-26 that ‘additional spouses’ in ‘polygamous marriages’ are being given a 4.8% boost to their benefits from April. Those who are classed as an ‘additional spouse’ in a polygamous marriage and are above state pension age are currently able to claim the benefit, with no given limit on the number of separate additional spouses who can claim in one household, other than the overall benefits cap per household per year.
From April 2026, this is being increased to £125.25 per week per additional spouse, a 4.8% increase in line with wage growth, which is how Pension Credit is automatically increased each spring, which is another £5.75 per week, or £299 extra per year.
The money is less than a person would be able to claim if they lived alone (£238), but is still extra money for a three-person household’s income compared to a two-person marriage.
The rule is not new, but the amount given to second wives is still being increased each year.
Although bigamy is illegal in the UK, the act of marrying more than one person at a time – polygamy – is not illegal if the marriages took place overseas.
This is legal where a person has married multiple wives (or husbands) overseas while legally living in a country where this is legally allowed, and then moved to the UK legally afterwards.
In that circumstance, a person now legally living in the UK, who legally married more than one spouse while living overseas, can then see their second, third, and even fourth wife (or husband) all claim an additional £125.25 each per week, as long as that additional spouse came to the UK legally in their own right.
The DWP’s benefits and pension rates 2026 to 2027 document states: “If the claimant is a member of a polygamous marriage and all of the members of the marriage have attained pensionable age on or after 1 April 2021, for the claimant and the other party to the marriage [the allowance per week is now] £363.25.
“For each additional spouse who is a member of the same household as the claimant [the allowance per week is now] £125.25.”
It is understood the DWP believe the number of claimants to be small although they have not yet been able to provide a number for how many second or third wives do claim the benefit.
A House of Commons report titled Polygamy published in 2023 explains how this works.
It says: “To be recognised as legally valid, all marriages which take place in the United Kingdom must be monogamous and must be carried out in accordance with the requirements of the relevant legislation.
“For a polygamous marriage to be considered valid in the UK, the parties must be domiciled in a country where polygamous marriage is permitted and must have entered into the marriage in a country which permits polygamy.”
It continues: “It has been the policy of successive governments to prevent the formation of polygamous households in the UK.
“In short, a UK resident cannot sponsor a non-British/Irish national for permission to enter or remain in the UK as their spouse if another person has already been granted such permission, and the marriage has not been dissolved. These restrictions are set out in section 2 of the Immigration Act 1988 and paragraphs 278 – 280 of the Immigration Rules.
“However, it is possible for all parties to a polygamous marriage to be legally present in the UK. For example, a second spouse may qualify for entry to the UK in a different immigration category, in their own right.”
On qualification for benefits, it says: “For polygamous marriages considered valid in the UK, an award of certain means-tested benefits and tax credits can be for more than one spouse. Any additional amount payable for the second spouse is however likely to be less than the amount they could get were they to make a separate claim as a single person.
“Universal Credit (UC) is replacing means-tested benefits and tax credits for working age people. Polygamous marriages are not recognised in the UC rules. This means that some polygamous households will receive more under UC than they would have under the legacy benefits and tax credits system.”
In 2024, a question tabled by Conservative Life Peer Baroness Buscombe said: “[I would like] to ask His Majesty’s Government whether the benefits system continues to recognise polygamy in social security regulations and, if so, why.”
To which Conservative Viscount Younger of Leckie replied: “Polygamous marriages are illegal in the UK
“Universal Credit does not recognise polygamous households in the benefit system. Any adults living in the household would each have to claim as a single person on the basis of their own circumstances.
“Benefits such as Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance and Housing Benefit do recognise a small number of polygamous marriages which took place in a jurisdiction where polygamy is permitted.
“This number is very small and declining, since the Immigration Act 1988, it has not been possible for people polygamously married overseas to bring second wives to the UK through the spouse visa route.”
The DWP said in a statement: “There are rules in place to ensure there is no financial benefit for claiming from a polygamous household. Only marriages that took place in a country where the practise is legal are recognised. As a result, very few, if any, households claim this way.”
