A heterosexual couple have won their legal bid for the right to have a civil partnership instead of a marriage, in a move that could have major implications for pension schemes.
The supreme court has ruled that restricting civil partnerships to same-sex couples is discriminatory.
It found unanimously found in favour of Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan, who brought the legal action.
A government spokesperson said the prime minister would be studying the judgement carefully.
Steve Webb, director of policy at Royal London, said: “If opposite sex couples who live together could register a civil partnership this could have a significant impact on those pension schemes which currently only provide survivor benefits to spouses and surviving civil partners.
“But in some ways, allowing opposite sex partners to register a civil partnership would be administratively helpful to schemes as they would not need to draw up their own rules for who qualifies as a partner for the purposes of survivor benefits.”
