Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many benefit claims in the last five years have involved individuals presenting as part of a polygamous household; and what the outcomes of those claims were.

Polygamous households are not recognised in Universal Credit. In claims where the claimant identifies as polygamous, the first spousal couple (the two partners who have been married longest) in the relationship could form a claim as a couple. However, all extant members of the relationship living in the household would need to make separate claims.

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.

As such, statistics are not held regarding numbers of claimants presenting as part of a polygamous household and would be disproportionate in cost to produce.