The statistics can be found by accessing this link: Click here

The family justice system campaign organisation ‘Resolution – First for Family Law’ have responded to the figures by calling for unmarried cohabitees to be granted more legal rights. Vice Chairman David Allison said that the need to bring in legal protection for this growing group of people is overwhelming:

“A smaller percentage of people got married in 2008 than in any year since records began and at the same time the number of couples living together outside of marriage is on the increase. Yet the majority of people don’t understand that living together does not give them any financial protection should the relationship end, which leaves countless people vulnerable to financial hardship if their relationship breaks down”.

Resolution is campaigning for a new legal framework to afford couples protection and a fair treatment in the event of the demise of their relationship. They advocate a fair approach to cohabitees without equating living together to marriage or civil partnership and for protection to vulnerable people who have made career or financial sacrifices for the sake of their relationship.

Resolution's full response can be found by accessing this link: Click here