The Government has announced that they will seek to extend civil partnerships to couples of the opposite sex. This comes on the back of the Supreme Court decision in July this year to rule in favour of Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan’s bid to have the right to a civil partnership.

In the wake of Parliament’s decision to introduce same-sex marriage the Government consulted on what action should be taken in regard to civil partnerships. The consultation found that there was no united call for change, and in fact 76% of respondents did not think that civil partnerships should be extended to opposite sex couples.

The reasons given included that marriage was felt to be the appropriate relationship for an opposite sex couple, it would entail significant costs, and it would create a two-tier system based on the assumption that civil partnership entails a lesser degree of commitment and is less stable than marriage.

In May this year the Government set out a policy paper to gather additional information needed to bring forward their proposals for the future of civil partnerships. In the paper they stated that “By September 2019 we will have access to four full years of data on civil partnership formation following the introduction of marriage for same-sex couples. We will also have completed the activities set out above, giving us the information we need to make a well-informed assessment of potential demand for civil partnerships by early 2020.”

In bringing this proposal forward now the Government seems to have thrown their own timetable out the window. There are legitimate questions to be asked as to whether they have adequate information and data to make an informed decision.

CARE’s family policy officer Jonathan Williams, responds:

“Marriage is the gold standard of commitment for society. The Government should be making marriage more accessible and affordable given the huge benefits it brings to adult wellbeing and child development.

"We are concerned that this decision will further reduce our already historically low marriage rate and result in increased family breakdown which we know results from not making the lifelong and solemn commitment that marriage calls for.

"Coming on the back of the recent announcement of no-fault divorce, it is deeply troubling that rather than promoting the importance of marriage the Government seems more interested in doing things that will undermine and erode it.”

To read more about CARE's work on marriage and family, please click here.