Marriage and civil partnership 


To be protected because of marriage (including same-sex marriage) or civil partnership, an individual must be married or have a civil partner. Same-sex marriage became lawful on 30 March 2014. 


Someone who is intending to marry or enter into a civil partnership but has not yet done so is not protected. Neither is someone who is cohabiting, widowed, single, engaged or divorced (section 8, EA 10). The protection is against discrimination because of marital status, as opposed to because you are married to a particular person (Hawkins v Atex Group Limited [2011] UKEAT0302/11/1303).


Same sex couples who enter into a civil partnership have the same legal rights as married heterosexual couples under the Civil Partnership Act 2004, with one important exception. This relates to survivorship benefits under an occupational pension scheme. Under paragraph 18, Schedule 9, EA 10, it is not sexual orientation discrimination to deny civil partners survivorship benefits under an occupational pension scheme where those benefits accrued before 5 December 2005 — the date the Civil Partnerships Act 2004 came into force.


The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (MSSCA 13) has extended marriage to same sex couples, and provides for equality as between married same sex couples and married male and female couples. However, the new law repeats the same exception, denying married same sex couples survivorship benefits that accrued before 5 December 2005. 


In Walker v Innospec Limited (DWP intervening) [2015] EWCA Civ 1000, the Court of Appeal ruled that this exemption is not unlawful sexual orientation discrimination. The Court has refused to refer the issue to the European Court of Justice on the basis that the law is clear.