Britain will not extend civil partnerships to straight couples.
Following the passing of gay marriage laws last year, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport launched a consultation on whether civil partnerships needed to be changed.
But a report published on Thursday said three quarters of those who replied were against extending civil partnerships to heterosexual couples.
It said several important organisations thought it was too soon to consider making changes to civil partnership and it should wait until the impact of extending marriage to same sex couples was known.
In contrast, other organisations argued civil partnerships should be made available to opposite sex couples now, because civil partnership and marriage were different relationships and couples should have equal access to both.
"In time we will know how many same sex couples are marrying and how many entering a civil partnership, and how many couples are remaining in civil partnerships rather than converting them to marriages," the report said.
It argued such information was not presently available and information on civil partnership conversion to marriage would not be available until December.
"Given the lack of consensus on the way forward, the government will not be making any changes," it said.
Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said in a statement Prime Minister David Cameron had betrayed the principle of equality by refusing to allow opposite-sex couples to have a civil partnership.
"Same-sex couples now have a legal advantage over straight couples. They have two options: civil marriage and civil partnership," Tatchell said.
"In contrast, opposite-sex couples have only one option: marriage. This is unjust and unfair."
In a further announcement, gay couples already in a civil partnership will be able to convert them to a civil marriage from December 10 this year.
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