Relationships Foundation in Hong Kong

20-Mar-2013

RF Chair, Peter Lacey, is attending the International Council of Relationships Global in Hong Kong, together with representatives from other relational organisations from around the world.

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Counting the Cost of Family Failure: £46bn and still rising

18-Mar-2013

The latest update to the Relationships Foundation's annual Cost of Family Failure Index shows that the breakdown of relationships continues to be a huge charge on the public purse and has risen to £46bn a year.

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First national conference a great success: papers now available

01-Mar-2013

The sold-out conference, on February 15, explored the myths and realities surrounding marriage, as well as the choices of people as they form and dissolve relationships. The speakers included Sir Paul Coleridge and Baroness Deech.

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Relationships Foundation is urging British politicians and policy makers to set out a Family Deal, formally spelling out what government needs and expects from families if goals are to be achieved, especially in the tough times we are going through. In turn the government must set out a clear strategy for supporting families. The deal should be at the heart of the understanding of rights and responsibilities between the government and the general public. It needs to be clearly stated and easily understood. It needs to be written into departmental plans. Above all, it needs political leaders who will do more than pay lip service to family policy.
 

 


The Relationship Foundation has, over many years, incubated a number of initiatives that strengthen and protect relationships, the latest being the Marriage Foundation.

 


 




The Relationships Foundation’s annual “Cost of Family Failure Index” is now widely quoted both in the UK and internationally (see press release and media comment here). The latest update shows that the breakdown of relationships continues to be a huge charge on the public purse and has risen to £46bn a year (equivalent to a cost of £1,541 per taxpayer).

   
The annual Budget address the nation’s finances and considers how businesses can grow the economy. But the vital output of families needs to be part of the accounts too and we can no longer ignore the £46 billion cost of their failure which is unsustainable in any economic climate, let alone the current one. RF 
believes we need a balanced overall budget, an economic plus a social budget, that assesses the health and strength of the relationships on which we depend, and which create huge costs when they go wrong. The government depends on families for improvements in education, health, social care, welfare and criminal justice. Yet family policy is still ignored by the government.