A new tool is being launched this Valentine’s Day to help international couples assess the compatibility of their relationship under new Conservative policy that comes into effect this Spring.

Simply enter your name, nationality, and income to see whether your relationship is compatible under the new law change. If you’re lucky, you can celebrate this Valentine’s Day and continue your happily ever after here in the UK – but if you receive the ‘incompatible’ result, heartbreak is on the horizon.

Dubbed as the ‘Cost of Loving Crisis’, international couples in the UK face the prospect of never being able to build a life together as the earning bracket required for a visa rises 55% from £18,600 to £29,000 in Spring 2024. And in 2025, the rate will be almost double today’s rate, with it rising again to £37,000.

In 2025, that earning bracket would be out of reach for most nurses, police constables, and qualified teachers with less than five years experience. And a worker on the minimum wage would need to work 64 hours a week**. In practice this means thousands of children will grow up without one parent, and even more couples will be left in limbo until their wages increase.

The UK was already placed second from the bottom among 56 other countries, in regard to how easily it allowed family reunification – this new amendment is set to make it even tougher. Experts estimate that up to 70% of international workers in the UK won’t be permitted to have their family join them.

And these barriers are put in place despite the positive impact of immigration, which modelling by the Centre for Economics and Business Research shows that between 2022 and 2025, the net positive fiscal impact is £3.3 billion for each year***.

The initiative is put together by creative agency Don’t Panic, and spearheaded by one of its team who is taking matters around the policy into his own hands. Ben Howell, 22, whose girlfriend is German and is unable to join him in the UK, says, “As a young person, it feels like I can only afford to love freely once I meet the salary threshold, and given the stagnant wages of this country it looks like I’m destined for a lonely 20’s as I navigate a long distance relationship.

“It has been a real shock to have a vision of how your relationship will pan out, to then have a government policy take that away overnight.

“But that said, I know there are people affected even worse. Families are split across borders, and kids grow up without one of their parents all because of a government policy. It’s harrowing.

“I consider myself lucky that I’m not one of the people impacted who has children, but the heartache is all the same.”

The tool is being launched via a billboard in Whitechapel this week, digital sites on Shepherd’s Bush roundabout and fly posters across London, all of which feature a QR code which links to the compatibility test. The public can take the test for themselves at www.costofloving.uk.

The compatibility test directs users through to a live petition calling for the earning bracket not to reach its maximum. The petition needs to reach 100,000 signatures to be debated in Parliament.

Joe Wade, Founding Partner at Don’t Panic, says; “The Conservative government is literally putting a price on love in this country – and they’ll split up families by doing so.

“We don’t want people in Whitehall governing love, so we hope to capture the hearts of the British public this Valentine’s Day, and urge them to sign the petition calling to stop the government raising the earning bracket.”

This compatibility test is the latest work from creative agency Don’t Panic, an agency that has a proven track record of work with purpose for clients such as Oxfam, Save the Children, NSPCC and Greenpeace.