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Lots of interesting articles by our team about marriage and commitment, family policy, our research findings and other marriage-related stuff

Letter to the Times: Sir Paul Coleridge, 23 Dec 2021

FRAGMENTED FAMILIES Sir, Melanie Phillips’s excellent article (“Family fragmentation comes at a tragic cost”, Comment, Dec 21) could have been written after any of the

December 23, 2021 No Comments

Should cohabiting couples have the same rights as married couples?

I’ve written about this subject before. But having just been to parliament to give evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee, it’s worth going over

December 2, 2021 No Comments

Family friendly Hungary

I’ve been somewhat immersed in all things Hungary during the past few weeks. Last month, I was invited to an international conference on the family

November 30, 2021 1 Comment

The couple penalty: the perverse family policy that penalises commitment

In the budget this week, the Chancellor announced a couple of things that will benefit quite a lot of families in the short term. But

October 28, 2021 No Comments

Impact and Legacy

After nine years as research director for Marriage Foundation, I decided I needed to boost our impact and legacy. If you’ve followed our work in

July 28, 2021 No Comments

Should cohabiting couples have similar legal rights to married couples?

Submission to the Women and Equalities Committee inquiry into the rights of cohabiting partners Sir Paul Coleridge and Harry Benson, Marriage Foundation, July 2021 Marriage

July 2, 2021 No Comments

Family breakdown costs £50bn a year

When couples split up, families move from one to two households. Poverty is a common outcome that affects children. Six out of ten lone parents are supported by the state compared to one out of ten couple parents. That's where most of the £50bn is spent.

UK Among highest family breakdown in Europe

Five years ago, the UK had the highest rate of family breakdown in Europe. We're not doing as badly today, but only because of big falls in divorce rates. Alas there's no sign of a similar improvement among cohabitees

Lower Divorce Rates – Higher Lone Parents

Divorce rates have plummeted over the past 3 decades, but the number of lone parents has doubled in the same period. Why?... Because unmarried parents make up only one in five cohabiting parents but are responsible for one half of all family breakdown.

Stability is found in Marriage

Whereas stability is the norm if parents are married (75% stay together), it is the exception if they are not (30% stay together). As a result, among parents of teens who are still together as a couple, nine out of ten are married

Single Most Important Factor

The single most important factor in a child’s healthy development is the stable relationship of the parents. Our groundbreaking research shows that family breakdown is the #1 predictor of teenage mental health problems.

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