The Department for Work and Pensions has increased the benefits paid out to households in polygamous marriages from April. The Express has the story.
The DWP has confirmed in its benefits uprating list that “additional spouses” in “polygamous marriages” are being given a 4.8% boost to their benefits from April, which would most likely be for husbands with multiple wives.
Those who are classed as an “additional spouse” in a polygamous marriage and are above state pension age were in 2025–26 able to claim an additional £119.50 per week of Pension Credit or Housing 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 has been 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 that person would be able to claim if they lived alone (£238 from April 2026), 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 April 1st 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 it has not been able to provide a number for how many second or third wives do claim the benefit.
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