A COUPLE have been told a religious 'marriage' was not legal by High Court judges.

Law lords have ruled a 2010 Nikah ceremony between parties at Oldham Register Office did not qualify under English law.

The High Court was told the female partner had made an application for bereavement benefits after the death of her husband in 2016.

The couple had two daughters together and had lived together for 10 years before the Nikah, an Islamic ceremony, took place.

But claims for widowed partner's allowance and bereavement benefit were denied by the Department of Work and Pensions and an application to the First Tier Tribunal for social entitlement claims was also rejected on the grounds the pair had only been together for five years and seven months after their 'marriage'.

Rejecting the latest appeal, Mrs Justice Farbey said: "It is an ingrained feature of the legislation that Parliament expressly and intentionally provided a benefit to those who have been married as a matter of English law."