This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Every couple in England and Wales will in future be able to choose between a civil partnership and marriage when they formalise their relationship, the prime minister has announced.

Ending months of uncertainty following defeat in the supreme court, the government has agreed to extend civil partnerships – available to same-sex couples since 2005 – to everyone.

In a statement at the Conservative party conference in Birmingham, Theresa May said she would end the ban on heterosexual couples entering civil partnerships.

Equality campaigners welcomed the decision, but warned commissioning a consultation would impose unnecessary delays on a straightforward change.

The government had been due to respond to a ruling in June that it was discriminatory to restrict civil partnerships to gay couples. Justices at the UK’s highest court unanimously found in favour of Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan, and declared their human rights had been breached.

In her announcement, May said: “This change in the law helps protect the interests of opposite-sex couples who want to commit, want to formalise their relationship, but don’t necessarily want to get married.

Quick guide Explainer: civil partnerships Show Hide Civil partnerships were created in 2004 as a means of allowing same-sex couples to enter into a union that guarantees them similar legal rights to those who are married. They were limited to same-sex couples but in October 2018, following a supreme court ruling declaring the existing position discriminatory, the government announced that heterosexual couples would also be entitled to enter the arrangement. There are differences between the two forms of union, partially symbolic and partially matters of substance. For a marriage, the ceremony is solemnised by the couple saying a prescribed form of words; in a civil partnership, the couple can simply sign a document. Marriages can be conducted through either a civil or religious ceremony, at a registry office, church or wherever a venue is licensed. Civil partnerships are secular events, although partners can choose to hold a religious ceremony on the day. Civil partners cannot declare, for legal purposes, that they are married. Civil partnership certificates include the names of both parents of the parties whereas marriage certificates in England and Wales include only the names of a couple's fathers – for the time being. In terms of annulment the rules are virtually identical, although the clause that permits a marriage to be dissolved if one partner is 'suffering from a venereal disease in a communicable form' does not apply to civil partnerships. Likewise, adultery can be grounds for a married couple to divorce though it cannot be relied upon to end a civil partnership.

Those in civil partnerships and those who are married enjoy the same tax breaks and benefits – such as the marriage allowance and bereavement payments. Surviving civil partners are treated the same as widows or widowers in terms of rights to state pension.

While those who are married and in civil partnerships enjoy extensive legal rights, those who are merely cohabiting – 3.3 million couples at the last estimate – have no legal protections or property rights if one of them dies.

“As home secretary, I was proud to sponsor the legislation that created equal marriage. Now, by extending civil partnerships, we are making sure that all couples, be they same sex or opposite sex, are given the same choices in life.”

The equalities minster, Penny Mordaunt, said: “This is an important step forward for equality. There are all sorts of reasons why people may choose not to marry.

“By giving couples this option, we hope to give them and their families more certainty and security. I pay tribute to all who have campaigned for this change and will introduce the change as swiftly as possible.”

The chairman of the Equal Civil Partnerships campaign, Martin Loat, said: “It’s great news, but let’s get on with it. What’s missing in the announcement is a timeline.”

He suggested that while the government wanted to carry out a consultation, Tim Loughton’s private member’s bill, which originally aimed to create equal civil partnerships, could be used to make the change when it returned to the House of Commons on 26 October.

There are about 3.3 million unmarried couples in England and Wales. None have any legal partnership rights.

The Marriage Foundation supports extending civil partnerships to heterosexual couples, saying they are “infinitely preferable to unthinking and risky cohabitation”.

Supporters maintain that civil partnerships, which do not carry the patriarchal associations of traditional marriage, will prove more attractive to cohabiting couples.

Steinfeld and Keidan, who went through a protracted legal campaign for the right to enter a civil partnership, said: “This is great news and a major step in the right direction, but we will only celebrate when legislation is agreed and the government confirms the date for when the first different-sex civil partnership can take place. Change is long overdue.”

They said register offices were having to turn away disappointed opposite-sex couples who believed the supreme court judgment had already changed the law. “We still have hurdles to jump before we can book our civil partnership,” the couple added.

If the government had not acted, they said they might have had to take their case to the European court of human rights.

In response to the supreme court ruling, the Scottish government launched a consultation last week on the possibility of extending civil partnerships to heterosexual couples. Ministers in Edinburgh had previously been sceptical about the case for change.

The consultation floats the alternative option of scrapping all civil partnerships. Ministers have not set a target date for changing their status. In 2015, the Scottish government suggested there would be little demand for heterosexual civil partnerships partially because they would not then be recognised outside Scotland.

The Humanist Society Scotland, however, said it had been approached by heterosexual couples who wanted them, and urged ministers to equalise the law in line with May’s promise.

The only jurisdiction in the British Isles that permits opposite-sex civil partnerships is the Isle of Man. Some couples have travelled there for ceremonies, but the unions are not yet recognised in the UK.

Other countries such as South Africa, New Zealand and the Netherlands allow couples to choose either civil partnership or marriage.

Office for National Statistics figures showed there was a 2% rise in new civil partnerships in England and Wales last year, the second consecutive year in which there has been an increase. The government had initially expected them to decline sharply after the legalisation of gay marriage in 2014.

The number of deathbed weddings has also gone up, suggesting cohabiting couples are belatedly realising that without the legal protection of a formal relationship, any surviving partner is exposed to inheritance tax.

Christina Blacklaws, the president of the Law Society of England and Wales, said: “The law needs to catch up with, and reflect, the multiple ways in which people choose to live their lives today. We are absolutely in favour of a review of all areas of the law affecting civil and religious contracts, marriages and partnerships.”

But Lisa Pepper, a family law solicitor at Osbornes Law, said: “The risk is that people may not fully appreciate the seriousness of entering into a civil partnership, and the lengthy legal route to come out of one.

“People are often surprised at how long divorce takes, which is two years or having to prove unreasonable behaviour or adultery. Leaving a civil partnership will mean the same, although adultery cannot be used. It is not ‘marriage-lite’.”

Last month, the government announced it would launch a consultation on “no-fault divorce” to simplify the confrontational procedure for separation.