Less well-off couples should have their weddings subsidised by the state to tackle the national loneliness epidemic, according to a think tank set up by Sir Iain Duncan Smith.
The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) said the government should offer up to £550 to low-income couples to cover the costs of getting hitched, after their research indicated marriage to be among the best safeguards against loneliness.
The CSJ's "Lonely Nation" report found that 60% of Brits feel lonely at least some of the time, but relationship status had a significant impact. Unmarried couples living together were about half as likely to feel lonely as single people, and "married people were even less likely than cohabitees to be lonely", said The Telegraph.
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The majority of poorer unmarried adults surveyed said that, even if they met the right person, the cost of a wedding would put them off getting married. The average cost of a wedding in 2023 was £20,700, according to a study by wedding planning website Hitched.co.uk.
Josh Nicholson, a researcher at the CSJ, said: "Helping more people to get married by subsidising the bill for those on the lowest incomes offers significant health, social and economic benefits for them and the taxpayer."
The discount would only be available for couples with a relative or absolute low household income, and could impact "an estimated one in five weddings", said The Times. To help ensure relationships were "stable and secure", the CSJ said the £550 subsidy "would be contingent on participating in a marriage preparation course".
The annual cost of such a scheme is estimated at £35 million, "a fraction of the estimated £2.5 billion price of loneliness to employers alone through time taken off for illness, poor mental health and lower productivity", said The Telegraph.
The government said it had already invested more than £80 million in projects tackling the "pressing public health issue" of chronic loneliness.
