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Civil Partnership Act

The Civil Partnership Act 2004 came into force on 5 December 2005. It gives same-sex couples many of the rights and benefits opposite-sex couples already have. Civil partners will be treated like married partners for the purposes of tax, nationality and immigration, inheritance, liability for maintenance and child support, tenancies, employment and pension benefits and protection from domestic violence.

If you wish to enter into a civil partnership you will be required to register your relationship in much the same way as marriages are registered. You can also dissolve a partnership in a similar way to current divorce procedures.

Effect on benefits

The act states that same-sex partners:

• are eligible for bereavement benefits such as bereavement allowance, bereavement payment  and widowed parents allowance.
• are eligible for the adult dependant increases paid in national insurance benefits such as incapacity benefit, carer's allowance and retirement pension.
• are jointly assessed when claiming means tested benefits such as income support, income-based jobseeker's allowance, housing benefit or council tax benefit. This can be an advantage as, often, separate assessment means that more benefit is paid in total.
• are jointly assessed when claiming child tax credit or working tax credit

From 5 December 2005 same-sex civil partners and claimants who decide not to register their partnerships will be jointly assessed for means-tested benefits. Initially the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) does not intend to recover overpayments from existing same-sex claimants who fail to report that they are ‘living together’ unless fraud is suspected.

However, if you are in a same-sex parnership you will be expected to report this change as soon as possible and no later than your first benefit review after the implementation date.

Tax credits

After April 2006 couples who are same-sex civil partners (or two people of the same sex who are not civil partners of each other but are living together as if they were civil partners) will have to make their annual tax credit claim as a couple. The penalty for failing to inform the Revenue and Customs is £300, but this will not be applied when claimants have a reasonable excuse.

More information

• back to frequently asked benefits questions
• back to frequently asked law questions
• civil partnership legislation - summaries and links to key acts and regulations
• tuc briefing

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