Marriage and Civil Partnership
For the first time 2022/2023 sees definitively more single than married members of staff, with 49.0% single and 46.4% married. These proportions have not changed markedly since 2019, but represent sizeable changes to those reported the previous year, with both almost double the percentages reported in 2018.
Until 2018 members of staff did not have to provide information on their marital status, and many staff members did not provide detail of their marital status. However, eESS and Payroll required information on marital status from eESS implementation in 2018, so Payroll downloaded the detail they held to eESS and from that date onwards all starters have had to provide information on their marital status.
In the language used in eESS “Single” should not be taken as the opposite of “Married”. As more people choose not to marry due to social, economic or public health reasons, but are nevertheless in an enduring relationship, it might be better that the language be changed from “Single” to “Unmarried”, or else the focus shift from marital status to relationship status.
