The Coalition for Marriage (C4M) has condemned government plans to give “marriage’s legal rewards” to unmarried couples, noting that official figures now show that most adults in the country are not married to a person of the opposite sex.
Last week the Office for National Statistics released data suggesting that 51.1 per cent of adults in England and Wales are married or in a civil partnership. C4M took issue with this claim, however. While the group did not dispute the figure, they pointed out that it included civil partnerships and same-sex marriages.
When these are filtered out, the percentage of adults married to a person of the opposite sex is in fact 49.8 per cent.
C4M said that ONS figures had shown a “slow” but “real” decline in the percentage of those in traditional marriages. In the last 10 years the percentage of adults who have never married has risen from 32.6 to 34.9, while the percentage of cohabiting adults has increased from 9.8 to 10.8.
Two age groups in particular have seen a sharp rise in the percentage who have never married: 25 to 34 year olds and 45 to 69 year olds. While the first group could be explained by young people simply not getting married yet, C4M noted that in the case of older people, “marriage hasn’t been postponed, it has been skipped”.
Given such statistics, C4M questioned the wisdom of the government’s consultation on giving the rights of married couples to those who cohabit.
Under the plans, in the event of a break up with a couple that lives together for three years, or has a child together, the lower earner could expect some form of financial contribution from the higher earner for a certain period – unless both partners opt out. In the event of death without a valid will, a cohabiting partner could receive the same automatic inheritance rights as a husband or wife.
C4M noted that anyone who wanted these rights is already able to gain them, either by actually getting married or by making a will.
“Marriage matters not least because children need stability. Across ten years of UK household data, cohabiting parents were 3.4 times more likely to split up in any given year than married parents. And that gap holds true at every income level," said Dr Tony Rucinski, Director of Supporter Strategy at C4M.
"Even the poorest married parents hold together slightly better than the richest cohabiting ones. Marriage is not a luxury for the comfortable, it’s what keeps a child’s home in one piece.”
The group urged supporters to respond to the government’s consultation on marriage before it closes on 14 August.
