MARRIED couples should be given cash incentives to encourage more partners to tie the knot, campaigners have urged.
Ministers have been warned that the number of Brits getting hitched is at a record low and must be brought back up.
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The Marriage Foundation says dangling financial perks has worked in Hungary and should be explored in the UK.
It hailed the dramatic uptick – 92 per cent between 2010 and 2020 – in the European nation as “nothing short of a miracle”.
And that it showed the power of the “right policies and financial incentives” .
Surveys found far fewer people on lower incomes get married that higher incomes, with the organisation citing financial disincentives.
Report author Harry Benson said: “Low income families stand to lose as much as £10,000 every year of tax credit or Universal Credit entitlement if they live together or marry.
“This is because welfare is assessed on total household income. Move in or marry and their income is added to the household.
“In fact, that is also the case even if married couples are not living together under the same roof for whatever reason.”
He pointed to Hungary’s system whereby married hitched couples can get a one-off £28,000 bung towards a home if they promise to have three kids.
And where the wife is between 18 and 40, they can also access a £25,000 interest-free loan with only slim repayments.
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But with the cost of living crisis raging critics said cash for marriage ” is not where our priorities should be”.
Cultural commentator Carina White told GMB: “But also if people are getting married because they think they’re going to get money, is that really the right answer and the right reasons to be getting married.”
Appearing on the show, Mr Benson shot back: “At the moment the playing field is anything but level. The welfare system discriminates very badly about people that live together, let alone marry.
“And any of your viewers sitting at home receiving tax credits will know full well that the choice to live together… the amount of money involved matters hugely.
“Our welfare system is very badly skewed against encouraging commitment.”
