THE Government must pay more attention to the changing face of British family life, according to a report published today.

 All policies should be scrutinised to ensure that they are more in tune with contemporary family life - which is changing beyond recognition. The study by the Family Policy Studies Centre paints a picture of the traditional family in decline, with fewer people marrying and more divorcing, more step-families, more cohabitation, more single mothers, fewer children and more older people.

 The centre's director, Ceridwen Roberts, said: "Family life in Britain is undergoing unprecedented change. Marriage and partnerships are much more fragile than they were and more people are living on their own."

 In 1961 about 330,000 first-time marriages and 50,000 remarriages took place but by 1997 these figures had dropped to fewer than 200,000 first-time marriages, with 120,000 remarriages. The divorce rate increased from about 50,000 to more than 100,000 during the same period, according to the report, Family Change: A Guide to the Issues.

 Annual marriage rates are at their lowest levels since records began 16O years ago and more than two in five marriages will end in divorce. Three in 10 children will experience the divorce of their parents before they reach 16, and family breakdown costs the public purse £5 billion a year.

 Almost four in 10 babies are now born outside marriage and the fastest growing group of lone parents is mothers who have never married. In 1964 just 7.2 per cent of babies were born outside wedlock, in contrast to approximately 37.8 per cent in 1998.

 Mothers giving birth are now on average almost 29 years old, making them three years older than women giving birth in the early Seventies. The average number of children being born has fallen to 1.73 per woman, which although higher than in most European Union countries is still below the 2.1 birthrate needed for the long-term replacement of the population.

 According to the report, there are now a record 16.3 million families in Britain, including lone parents or cohabiting couples. The report calls on the Government to take more account of the effect of changes in family life on the growing number of older people. Grandparents are now the single most important source of pre-school childcare after parents, and by 2021 four in 10 people in Britain will be aged 50 and over, predicts the report.

 Mr Roberts said that the focus of government policies needed to adjust to the changing nature of family life in Britain.