The future of civil partnerships in England and Wales

On 26 June 2014 the Government published the Civil Partnership Review England and Wales) – Report on Conclusions (Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2014) which records the outcomes of the consultation on the future of civil partnerships in England and Wales (Department for Media and Sport, 2014). The consultation was launched following the enactment of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, which allows same sex couples to marry but does not extend civil partnerships to heterosexual couples: s 15 of the Act committed the Government to reviewing civil partnerships as soon as practicable. The result of the consultation exercise is that the Government intends to make no changes to the law relating to civil partnerships at this stage because of the ‘lack of consensus’ amongst respondents (Report on Conclusions, 2014, p 4). The
Government also pointed out that it does not yet have data on the formation of same sex marriages, the registration of civil partnerships since the introduction of same sex marriage and the number of civil partnership conversions into marriage, which would be necessary to make an informed decision regarding the future of civil partnerships. The matter may, therefore, be revisited in the future. This paper explores the options outlined in the consultation document, the consequences of implementing them and the feedback received on each of the three proposals. It then analyses the implications of retaining the status quo and other options for reform that might be considered in the future.