As much of the country finds itself under “lockdown”, after the Prime Minister announced strict measures for leaving home on 23 March 2020, what is the position with children from separated families moving between households?

We are living in a situation caused by the Coronavirus which for the vast majority of the population is unprecedented. Most of us will never have experienced anything in our lifetimes equivalent to the effect this pandemic will have on our lives. This is a time of massive uncertainty, of global concern, and soaring rates of infection. Many people’s lives at risk. The virus has severely affected the economy, which in turn has affected the income of a lot of people, and in some cases put their livelihoods at risk. At the time of writing, it remains to be seen whether the UK will enter similar lockdown precautions as in Italy, Spain, and France. In those places, people are not allowed to leave their homes unless with a certificate to travel, effectively forcing them to remain in their homes. In the UK we already have thousands self-isolating if they are showing symptoms or their family members are showing symptoms of the virus.

Akhter v Khan and another [2020] EWCA Civ 122 – Summary of the facts

The Petitioner and the Respondent had an Islamic marriage ceremony (a Nikah) on 13 December 1998 at a restaurant in London. The parties had agreed that the Nikah ceremony would be followed by a civil marriage ceremony and understood that without such a ceremony they would not be legally recognised as married under English law. In 2016, the parties separated.

On 10 July 2019, the Government Equalities Office published a policy paper and consultation called ‘Implementing Opposite-Sex Civil Partnerships: Next Steps’ which highlighted and outlined the Governments plans to extend the eligibility to form a civil partnership to opposite-sex couples.

We are all equal in the eyes of the law, apparently. The problem comes when the law does not exist in the first place. If you are an unmarried couple living together you are not protected by any unified legislation, except to cover claims against one another as parents or on death as a dependant. This puts cohabitants at a disadvantage to married couples or those in a civil partnership. The issue particularly affects women, who often take on the burden of childcare at the expense of their career prospects only to find themselves financially unprotected at the end of the relationship.