Ministers ban extra benefits for multiple wives

The Telegraph

 Ministers are to bring to an end an “absurd” benefits regime which has seen husbands with multiple wives able to claim extra welfare payments.

Ministers ban extra benefits for multiple wives

A man with four spouses could have benefited from up to £10,000 a year from income support alone Photo: ALAMY
Patrick Hennessy

By , Political Editor

9:00PM GMT 21 Jan 2012

 Although bigamy is illegal in Britain, men who married more than one woman in countries where the practice was legal and then brought them to the UK have been allowed for years to receive multiple benefits.

Critics claimed the controversial system meant the state is effectively “recognising” polygamous marriages, of which there are thought to be about a thousand in the UK.

The practice is largely confined to Muslim men, who are permitted under some interpretations of Islamic law to have up to four wives in a harem – as long as they spend equal amounts of time and money on each partner.

The system of paying extra benefits for multiple wives was reviewed under Labour in an exercise involving four separate Whitehall branches – The Treasury, the Department for Work & Pensions, HM Revenue & Customs and the Home Office.

The review concluded that recognising multiple marriages which had taken place overseas in the benefits system was the “best possible option” and official guidelines on income support were amended early in 2008.

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About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

3 Replies to “Ministers ban extra benefits for multiple wives”

  1. The invaders will simply divorce their wives and the ex-wive’s will collect on their own, & probably get bullied to share with the ex. Once the wives are here, marry, give birth, divorce . . .can thee govt. deport them? A simple change or slight alteration to the spelling/order of their names can confuse the system. The ex-husbands will likely sort the wives into different local benefits collection/application areas. It’s unlikely the authorities will pursue alternate shenanigans.

  2. “The review concluded that recognising multiple marriages which had taken place overseas in the benefits system was the “best possible option”

    The best possible option that allwed them to spend taxpayers money on something no taxpayer would willingly spend it on? And yes, that includes taxpaying british citizens who are muslim.

    The REAL best possible option is to send these parasitic broods to a country where polygamous marriages are accepted.

    And what they are doing is not islamically legal so they can’t hide behind cultural sensitivities. They have to be able to support those wives. These guys aren’t supporting their wives. These men are taking the wellfare checks and doling dribs and drabs to their women while living off the “profits”. They aren’t supporting those women, they are living off of their illicitly gained income.

    That’s pimping.

  3. They are trying to enforce the laws, problem is there are several ways for the Moslems to continue drawing the multiple benefits, they need to start working harder.