Think-tank: ‘Increasing cohabitee rights could lead to fewer marriages’

The Government’s plans to grant cohabitants similar financial rights to married couples is likely to reduce the number of marriages, a think-tank has warned.

Under Ministry of Justice proposals for England and Wales, those “who have lived together for at least three years or live together and share a child” will be given more financial security when separating or if a partner dies without a will.

But the Centre for Social Justice calculated that following similar changes in Finland fifteen years ago, the first-marriage rate for a woman “was 23 per cent lower within seven years of the reform than it would have been in its absence”.

‘Clear warning’

The think-tank extrapolated that if England and Wales had introduced Finland’s legislation in 2011, there could have been 111,014 fewer marriages between 2012 and 2023.

In its report, ‘Finnishing Marriage? Lessons from Finland’s cohabitation reforms’, the CSJ stated: “Finland offers a clear warning. Reforms designed to narrow the legal distinction between marriage and cohabitation were followed by substantial falls in marriage”.

“The proposals for England and Wales go further than the Finnish model. At a time when birth rates are already at historic lows and population ageing is placing growing pressure on public finances, policymakers cannot assume these reforms will be behaviourally neutral.

“The potential costs are too great, and the evidence too significant, to ignore.”

Undermines marriage

When the Government announced its proposals on cohabitation rights, The Christian Institute’s Joanna Timm stated: “Taking the legal benefits that come from publicly committing to one another and giving them to people who haven’t made that commitment is unfair.

“It also discourages people from getting married, since it creates the perception that marriage and cohabitation are the same thing. They are not. The break up rate for cohabitation is, of course, much higher.

“Marriage is uniquely beneficial for couples, their children, and for society, so we should be celebrating and encouraging marriage, not undermining it.”