A UK think tank has proposed a scheme to subsidize wedding costs for low-income couples, seeing it as a way to alleviate loneliness and improve societal well-being.
The Centre for Social Justice, a UK-based think tank, has suggested that the government should subsidize wedding costs for lower-income couples by up to £550 to combat loneliness. This proposal comes in response to findings that married individuals experience lower levels of loneliness compared to those who are unmarried. The think tank’s recommendation targets administrative fees associated with marriages, aiming to alleviate the financial burden of weddings, which averaged £20,700 in 2023.
The proposal is introduced by Sir Iain Duncan Smith, with the initiative focusing on enhancing social relationships to address loneliness, which reportedly affects 60% of Britons. The Centre for Social Justice argues that facilitating more marriages could also have positive economic implications, notably by reducing the £2.5 billion annual cost to employers linked to loneliness from unstable family structures. If implemented, this subsidy could affect one in five weddings, leading to an estimated government expenditure of £35 million annually.
The government currently invests in various projects to tackle chronic loneliness, making this proposal an additional strategy to consider for enhancing societal well-being through increased marriage rates.
