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Housing Benefit and Pension Credit: Polygamy

Answer

Since 1988 rules have been in place under successive governments which limit access to benefits for people in polygamous marriages to those who were married in a country which allows such marriages. Any polygamous relationship formed in the United Kingdom is excluded by these rules and the second or subsequent partner is treated as a non-dependant. People in polygamous relationships where they are not married to the other members of the relationship are also excluded by these rules.

Where a claimant is allowed to claim benefits as part of a polygamous marriage their benefit entitlement is based on the standard amount for couples, plus an amount for each additional partner calculated as the difference between the standard amount for a couple and the standard amount for a single person. There is no financial benefit to someone claiming as part of a polygamous marriage as more would be paid in benefits if the additional person claimed as a single person.

The Pension Credit information that has been requested is not held by the Department. Based off the most recent published data (August 2025) from the Housing Benefit Single Housing Extract (SHBE), there are fewer than ten households where the claimant is recorded as having more than one partner. This has been used as a proxy for polygamous marriage.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

97043

Session

2024-26

Subjects

Housing benefit Pension credit Polygamy

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk