The government has announced that the £45 fee for civil partners converting to marriage will be waived for the first year.

As we reported a couple of weeks ago, civil partners will be able to convert their legal status to marriage from 10 December, but that was set to be upon payment of a fee.

But following a written question from Shadow Equalities Minister Gloria De Piero, Minister for Equalities Sajid Javid confirmed that couples in civil partnerships will not have to pay anything, provided they do it by 10 December 2015.

However, local authorities are still baffled by the new regulations, and the ones So So Gay called were unsure whether people would have to give notice as though they were getting married for the first time; or whether they could simply attend the office and sign a document. The Home Office told us that guidelines would be going out to local councils soon.