Cohabiting couples need basic legal protections

A recent survey showed as many as two in three cohabiting couples were unaware that there is no such thing as “common law marriage” in England and Wales.As a crucial step towards securing fair outcomes for millions of people, we urge the government to take steps to bring forward, as a minimum, basic protections for cohabiting couples.In the interim, the government must also raise public awareness of the lack of protections in place and challenge the common law marriage myth.