As divorce rates enter their highest level in 50 years according to the Office of National Statistics, one online divorce provider has revealed that the pandemic has seen a major increase in enquiries across the UK.

Easy Online Divorce, a platform designed to make the divorce process as easy and accessible as possible, has witnessed married people seek legal separation at an incredibly high rate – throughout the multiple lockdowns.

James Brien, founder and CEO, attributes the increased interest in divorce to the forced isolation of couples from the outside world. He said: “People have been forced together by lockdown – which has created a lot of frustration with marriages. Where there were cracks before, this new environment couples have found themselves in has created more division than ever before.

“With furlough and an uncertain future for a lot of industries, anger with the current state of things is boiling over into relationships.”

With so many looking to legally separate from their husband or wife, James notes that the circumstances have also forced people to delay any divorce proceedings and wait until they can be physically separated.

“It’s a catch-22 in a way as while lockdown has created a greater rift for married couples it’s also made them unescapable from each other,” he said. “People are simply waiting for the opportunity to separate.”

Divorce rates have increased significantly in the last year with more to come as restrictions ease and couples are able to move away from each other. The peak time for divorce is January, though Easy Online Divorce experienced a large number of enquiries throughout December 2020.

James added: “We were taking calls up until 10pm on Christmas Eve last year– we even saw enquires on Christmas Day. It’s no doubt that this was due to the lack of a ‘normal’ Christmas throwing many people off. The feeling of being stuck as well as events being cancelled means that people are keen to enquire with us.”

Even now the peak is still maintaining with a huge wave of confirmed divorces expected throughout the rest of 2021 as normality returns.