A single mother is nearly £10,000 a year worse off if she marries or moves in with the child’s father, according to new research by the think tank the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ). The report warns of a “couple penalty” in the benefits system that punishes parents for choosing to stick together.
The Financial Impact of Marriage on Benefits
For example, a mother aged 30 who is not in work and is looking after a one-year-old child would be £5,700 per year worse off if she marries or just moves in with the child’s father, who earns only £20,000 per year. If he earns £30,000 per year, she would be £9,600 per year worse off.
The CSJ is calling for an end to this penalty by reforming the tax and benefit system. It wants to end a system that actively disincentivises formal relationships, despite the evidence that stable family relationships are associated with better outcomes for children.
Recommendations for Reform
One of the think tank’s recommendations is “to redesign financial support in the early years of parenthood, using financial incentives that shift the timing of marriage forward”.
Researcher Dr Harry Benson, the report’s author, found that getting married is the best way for couples to stick together – overturning conventional wisdom that says household income is the key factor. Over the first 14 years of parenthood, parents in the poorest fifth of households who marry at any point are less likely to separate (26%) – even after controlling for a wide range of socio-economic and demographic characteristics – than in the richest fifth who never marry (46%).
Stability and Child Outcomes
Cohabiting couples are almost twice as likely to separate as married couples during the early years of their children’s lives.
Sophia Worringer, deputy research director of the Centre for Social Justice, said: “Families should not be made poorer for making a lasting commitment to one another. Marriage is one of the clearest indicators that parents will stay together, and children benefit when they grow up in stable households.
“Our welfare and tax system should reward commitment, not penalise it. If ministers are serious about reducing child poverty, supporting family stability – including marriage – must be at the heart of their strategy.”
