A paper published by John Haskey, senior researcher in Oxford’s department of social policy and intervention, has revealed the effects of legislation on same sex marriages and civil partnerships and the trends that have followed.

The paper revealed that at the beginning of 2015, 5,300 couples converted their civil partnership to a same-sex marriage which was more than double the 2500 couples wanting a same sex marriage with no previous civil partnership. The numbers are far below those seeking a civil partnership in 2006 when the Civil Partnership Act was enacted, although these numbers have steadily decreased since the 15000 in 2006.

There was a ‘slow start’ to same sex marriages when the legislation allowed them in April however, numbers of same-sex marriages echo the seasonal cycle of traditional weddings, with its peak in August with 844 weddings.

Attitudes towards same-sex couples are also reported to have improved, becoming more tolerant compared to the 1980’s. This was based on analysis of British Social Attitudes Survey.

To read more about the research paper, please visit the Family Law Week’s website.