Archives For uk

Divorce Delay – Mandatory ‘Cooling Off’ Period

July 12, 2009 — Leave a comment

Link: Divorce Delay – Mandatory ‘Cooling Off’ Period

UK: It would give estranged husbands and wives a chance to consider saving their relationship. The Tory think tank’s report, called Every Family Matters, also backed a tax break to promote marriage. It called for more counselling for warring couples and marriage classes for those getting wed. And the report insisted that Labour’s new rights for cohabiting couples should be reversed. It found that three-quarters of cohabiting couples want to tie the knot. Research also shows half of cohabiting couples split before their child’s fifth birthday – compared to one in 12 married ones. The report said: “A government that wants to prevent family breakdown cannot ignore these statistics. “Marriage is of paramount importance to individuals, children and our nation.”

In link , , , , ,
permalink
July 6, 2009 — Leave a comment

UK: Tax breaks in blueprint for stronger families

The Tories are shortly to unveil a far-reaching policy to put marriage at the heart of family life. It is said to recommend a sweeping overhaul of the law to strengthen marriage, including moves to make divorce more difficult and promote marriage preparation classes and ‘family relationship centres’, as well as tax breaks for married couples. It will point to  overwhelming evidence that marriage is good for couples, children, the extended family and society as a whole. (link)

In photo , , , , ,
permalink

UK: Economy is changing family structures

April 26, 2009 — Leave a comment

Link: UK: Economy is changing family structures

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics indicate that the number of marriages taking place in the UK have fallen by 2.7% since 2006. There were 270,000 weddings in the UK in 2007, the lowest number since 1895. Recent reports suggest that the average wedding costs anything between £15,000 and £20,000. Many couples in their twenties and thirties are already seriously financially constrained by the combined effect of student debt and rising house prices and this, together with the threat of redundancy, makes marriage now a cost that many can ill-afford.

In link , ,
permalink

British family life – transformed in a generation

April 15, 2009 — Leave a comment

Link: British family life – transformed in a generation

Women are more likely to give birth before they turn 25 than get married. More people are living alone, more children are being raised by single parents and more grown-up children are living with their parents than ever before, according to the Office for National Statistics. The Social Trends report made clear that the most radical changes had been to child-rearing and marriage.

In link , , ,
permalink

Married couples will soon be a minority in Britain

April 1, 2009 — Leave a comment

Link: Married couples will soon be a minority in Britain

Within 20 years, only two out of five adults will be married, according to the Office for National Statistics. Husbands and wives will make up only 41 percent of the over-16 population by 2031, when they will be outnumbered by divorcees, single people and cohabiting couples. There were 231,450 marriages in 2007, 3.3 per cent fewer than the year before. The only year in which there was a smaller number of weddings was 1895, when there were 228,204. Will the U.S. also see similar trends to those emerging in Europe?

In link , , , , ,
permalink

UK: Substituting financial poverty with relational poverty

March 30, 2009 — Leave a comment

Link: UK: Substituting financial poverty with relational poverty

The UK has one of the highest proportions of men working very long hours of all OECD countries, and men with children work longer hours than men without children. Working long hours is on the rise again in the UK and is likely to increase even further. The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) found that 75% of working families experience some weekend work and in over half of these – 2.41 million families – at least one parent is working regularly at weekends. More than 20% of working families have at least one parent who regularly works both weekend days.For many families financial pressures impact on their decisions, but there is a danger of  substituting financial poverty with relational poverty, especially in those families with school age children. There is now a case for the Family Day Bill: giving a weekend day off for parents to spend time with their children. Download PDF: Weekend Workers: Part-time Parents?

In link , , ,
permalink
March 11, 2009 — Leave a comment

Will British politicians pay attention to the effects of how having only one parent around risks disastrous consequences for children? 

Iain Duncan Smith, former leader of the U.K. Conservatives, is still a parliamentarian but now has a passion and a project that is non-partisan: the restoration of civil society, including and critically — poverty reduction efforts that begin with a fresh look at how people become poor. Using British statistics, Smith says “some very, very simple facts that are irrefutable”: Compared to one’s peer group, a child in a home that is other than a two-parent family is 75 per cent more likely to fail at school, 70 per cent more likely to be a drug addict, 50 per cent more likely to have alcohol problems, 40 per cent more likely to have debt problems, and 35 per cent more likely to experience unemployment or welfare dependency. (Read full article)

In photo , ,
permalink

UK: Will recession strengthen families?

March 7, 2009 — Leave a comment

Link: UK: Will recession strengthen families?

Nick Clegg, the LibDem leader,  proclaimed recently that “a savage recession, like a war, shakes the traditional identity of men and women”, and that unemployed men could “reinvent” themselves as hands-on fathers and proudly support their still-working womenfolk. —The recession is stripping marriage bare, forcing partners to look at each other face on, undistracted by the sideshows of material comforts—

In link , ,
permalink
February 1, 2009 — Leave a comment

UK: Recession sees marriage rate rise

Professor Cary Cooper, a social scientist at Lancaster University, said: “The increase in marriages makes sense. If you’re feeling insecure, as people are now, then you are going to want to try to bring some stability to their lives. Article Link: Read more

In photo , ,
permalink

UK: Number of Marriages Hit 111-Year Low in 2006

January 30, 2009 — Leave a comment

Link: UK: Number of Marriages Hit 111-Year Low in 2006

Iona Institute of Dublin, which works to promote civil society, especially through promoting marriage, reported this week on new figures published by the U.K. Office for National Statistics in its General Household Survey 2007, a poll of almost 13,000 homes across Britain.

In link , , , ,
permalink