Rocky future for marriage scheme

Pilot projects on preparing young people for married life could hit the rocks unless they prove to the Treasury they can help curb the soaring cost of Britain's divorce rate.

Experts running the schemes have been told by the Lord Chancellor's department that the best way of preserving their funding is to convince the Treasury they save taxpayers' money in dealing with the stress, and child support that goes with divorce. The projects, inherited from the Tories, include going into schools and explaining the difficulties which face newly-weds in the hope of persuading them to overcome the upsets, and avoid breaking up.