This Act provides for same-sex couples who are aged 16 or over and neither of whom is married to obtain legal recognition of their relationship by registering as "civil partners" of each other. The partners must not be within the prohibited degrees of relationship. A dissolution process, similar to divorce, will be created to deal with situations where a civil partnership breaks down.

The Act covers England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (it has different parts for each region).

This Act is not directly concerned with employment law and therefore is not considered in depth in this programme. There are extensive details on the Women & Equality Unit - Civil Partnership website and there is also a useful Law Society guide to Civil Partnerships on the internet.

For relevant general notes see Sex discrimination/homosexuals & transsexuals .