What does Consumer Duty have to do with cohabiting couples?

Important to check pension scheme rules

clock • 3 min read

Although many people just don't want to get married, financially it still might be the best option. Clare Moffat explains why this is the case and where Consumer Duty comes into the equation...

In the UK, there are now 7.2 million adults living as part of a cohabiting couple. In 1996, there were 3 million people cohabiting, so it's the fastest-growing family group in the UK. Despite a recent House of Commons paper in 2022 supporting earlier Law Commission reports to extending the right of cohabitees, there is no sign of this happening anytime soon. However, the Consumer Duty requires advisers to ‘act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers' and to ‘avoid foreseeable harm', both extremely pertinent in the context of cohabiting couples.  For those clients in defined c...

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