Legal News

Figures gathered in 2011 for the census and published on Wednesday (22/01/14) have shown that marriage in the UK is declining fast, with just 4 million households in Britain now comprising a husband and wife and children.

The official figures for marriage provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are higher than the recent figures which estimate the number of married households in the UK as being 600,000 higher.

However the family data shows that only 15.2% of families have married partners – 300,000 fewer than in 2001.

The decline in the number of couples marrying may be one result of the housing crisis, which means young families are now having to rent the family home rather than buy.

Some couples on benefits may also choose to live apart and be assessed as single people for the purpose of benefits.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is conducting a review of the stability of families in Britain, as Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith tries to find ways of keeping families together.

However, as a result of high property prices and a tough jobs market for young adults, many young adults are now living with their parents in the family home until their thirties because they are unable to afford to buy their own home – and cannot even afford to pay spiralling rents as a result of the housing crisis.

In the same period 2001-2011, there was a spurt of growth in the population of the UK by 3.7 million as a result of immigration. This has failed to have any impact on the number of married couples occupying homes, however, suggesting that new migrants arriving in the UK are single or are not marrying their partners – or perhaps already have a partner and children in their home countries and are coming to the UK to work.

The most recent figures for cohabiting couples show there are 1,053,397 homes with a co-habiting couple and children, compared with 4,017,793 homes with married couples and children under 16 or under 18 if they are at college.

When the data was gathered in 2011, there were also 1,895,833 homes comprising a single parent with children – almost half the number of homes as those with married couples.

Statistically, co-habiting couples are three times more likely to break up than married couples, even if they have children together.

The census data also shows that 8.1 million people now live alone – the largest number of single households ever recorded and one million more than in 2001. This may also be because couples prefer to live alone either for tax reasons or because their benefits are assessed as two single claimants rather than as a married couple living together. Around 31% of homes are now occupied by a single person.

Duncan Lewis Family and Children Solicitors

Duncan Lewis is a leading firm of family and children solicitors and can advise on family law including divorce and ancillary payments, child contact and residence, children taken into Local Authority care and child abduction.

For expert advice on family and children law, contact Duncan Lewis Solicitors on 020 7923 4020.