Recommendation 3

HM Government Rejected

We reject this recommendation. The Government has given careful consideration to this recommendation but consider that existing work underway on the law of marriage and divorce, which are directly relevant to issues concerning cohabitants, must conclude before considering any change to the law in respect of the rights of cohabitants on relationship breakdown. The Government cannot therefore commit to publishing draft legislation for pre-legislative scrutiny in the 2023–24 session of Parliament. In particular, the Government must focus on its commitment to conduct a review of the law of financial provision on divorce and is currently undertaking work as to how this review should best take place. The Government is of the view that it could not fully re- consider the Law Commission’s 2007 recommendations on the law relating to relationship breakdown of cohabitants before the review on financial provision for divorce has reached its conclusions and made its recommendations. This is because any new legal rights and obligations afforded to cohabitants would necessarily need to be considered against a baseline of rights afforded to married parties or civil partners on divorce or dissolution. The Law Commission has also recently presented recommendations for reforms to modernise the law of marriage. The Government is currently considering the case for comprehensive and enduring reform to marriage law and will announce its intentions in due course. The Government is of the view that the law relating to the relationship breakdown of cohabiting couples could also not be considered outside the context of any wider reform to the law of marriage. The Government also considers that, given the fact that the Law Commission’s 2007 recommendations are now 15 years’ old, such proposals could not be implemented without a review of the 2007 report, nor without a fresh consultation. The Government believes that any future review or fresh consultation of the 2007 proposals would need to take into account any changes which may be made to the law on marriage and the law of financial provision on divorce. A future review and consultation would also need to take into account the fact that civil partnerships are now available for both opposite-sex and same- sex couples, allowing couples who do not wish to marry to enter into a legally recognised relationship which provides the same legal rights and responsibilities as marriage.