Marriage Registration Changes May 2021 and other changes July 2021 – Frequently Asked Questions

What changes to marriage law are taking place in 2021?

There are two changes to the law relating to weddings taking place this year. Both of these are vitally important to clergy conducting marriage services and to others involved in the administration of them.On 4 May 2021, we will see comprehensive changes to the way in which marriages are registered and the way in which marriage certificates are issued. As part of this change, churches will no longer hold the official public marriage registers and will no longer issue marriage certificates on the day. It is vital that all parishes hosting marriage services are prepared for these changes from 4 May 2021 as the previous system will immediately end on this date.On 1 July 2021, the eligibility criteria for banns and common licences will tighten, meaning that some European citizens who are currently able to use these preliminaries will instead have to visit the civil register office to give notice of their wedding.Alongside these changes, the Law Commission is also conducting a wide-ranging review into the law of weddings. You may hear of this in the media, but the changes (if they are agreed by Government) are some way off. The immediate focus should therefore be on the two changes above. If you wish to find out more about possible future reforms, do visit the Law Commission’s website at https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/weddings/

4 May: changes to marriage registration

What are these changes about?

The familiar green paper marriage certificate is well-known to clergy and to the public generally. However, in two respects it might be said to be rather old-fashioned:

The system is very much paper-based, with the paper certificate being the official proof of marriage. Digitisation of the marriage records is somewhat inconsistent and delayed, relying on the quarterly return system.

The certificate itself is thought by many to be sexist, as it records details of the fathers of the bride and groom (both their names and their ‘rank or profession’) but contains no details of the parties’ mothers.

These changes therefore seek to move us to a new certificate format allowing mothers (and step-parents) to be given their rightful recognition. The certificate will also be issued at the same time as the marriage is recorded on a central database, meaning that the paper and electronic records are aligned.

What will change in practice?

The most obvious change will be that the marriage registers held by each incumbent will close on 4 May 2021 and will not be used for weddings from that date. Similarly, the certificate book will cease to be used on that date. Churches will therefore no longer issue marriage certificates (either on the day of a wedding or for historical weddings). Couples will no longer receive their marriage certificate on the day but will instead order this from the register office for the district in which the church is situated. The register office will be informed that a wedding has taken place in church by the submission of a document known as a ‘marriage schedule’ or ‘marriage document’, which are explained further below.

Does this mean couples no longer really get married in church?

No. This change affects only the registration of marriages, not their solemnization. This reform does not introduce the system found in some countries in which a religious service is layered on top of a civil service.Couples will still be married (both legally and in the eyes of God) during their marriage service. They will enter the service as unmarried people and leave as a married couple. It is, however, vital to ensure that this marriage is registered.One way to think of this change is by analogy to the registration of births. A birth happens and it is then registered at a register office. The birth still exists prior to its registration, but there is a duty to ensure that it is registered.

What about marriage preliminaries?

Every proposed marriage must first go through a ‘preliminary’, which is a means of authorising the wedding service. Preliminaries can be split into two categories:

Ecclesiastical preliminaries, which are organised by the Church itself. The usual ecclesiastical preliminaries for a parish church wedding are the calling of banns or the seeking of a common licence from a surrogate.

The civil preliminary, which is organised by the civil register offices. This involves the bride and groom attending their local register office to ‘give notice’ of their intention to marry. This is the route used by couples wishing to marry outside of the Church of England, but it can also be used for Church weddings. In particular, couples must use the civil preliminary if either or both of the parties do not hold British, EEA or Swiss nationality, as the ecclesiastical preliminaries are not open to people without these nationalities.

Preliminaries are not changing as a result of the 4 May changes, but please note that the citizenship restrictions are changing on 1 July. More details on this are below.Apart from this, banns and common licences may proceed as normal.Although the preliminaries themselves are not changing, it is important to be absolutely sure which type of preliminary (ecclesiastical or civil) has been used for every wedding, as the documentation to be signed during the service differs.

If marriage registers are closing, what is signed during the service?

Although the marriage will be registered in the register office, and the certificate issued there, we will of course have to record that a marriage service has taken place. For this reason, a document will be signed at the customary point in the service. The type of document depends on the preliminary that has been followed by the couple (see previous question for more details).Civil preliminary

If the couple are using the civil preliminary, they will have given notice at the register office(s) local to their place(s) of residence. After the statutory waiting period, a document known as a marriage schedule will be produced. The marriage schedule is produced by the register office local to the Church, which may be different to the office(s) attended by the couple. How the marriage schedule is issued will depend on local practice – it could be handed to the couple or it could be posted to the minister directly. Check with your local register office to understand their plans in this regard.The marriage schedule replaces the current documents known as ‘superintendent registrar certificates’, which are sometimes also known as ‘authorities for marriage’. If a couple wishing to marry on or after 4 May already hold unexpired superintendent registrar certificates, they must arrange with the register office to swap them for a new style marriage schedule. Superintendent registrar certificates may not be used as the basis for a marriage held on or after 4 May.The marriage schedule system will be used for civil marriages and religious marriages conducted by other denominations and faiths. The term ‘marriage schedule’ may therefore become quite familiar over time.Ecclesiastical preliminaries

Couples marrying after ecclesiastical preliminaries do not visit a register office prior to their marriage. They will not therefore have a marriage schedule prepared for them. Instead, the clergyperson conducting the wedding will have to prepare a similar document from scratch for the couple. This document is known as a marriage document and will take the place of the marriage schedule. You must only prepare a marriage document for couples that have been through a valid ecclesiastical preliminary (i.e. couples which have successfully had their banns called or who have been awarded a common or special licence). You must not prepare a marriage document for a couple which should have a marriage schedule.Marriage document templates will be available at www.lrsa.org.uk closer to 4 May.

What will the marriage document look like?

The marriage document will be a simple A4 portrait document that can be printed off in each parish.A blank marriage document is shown below. Please do not use this image to create your own marriage documents. Instead, download the official template when it becomes available at www.lrsa.org.ukBoxes 1 to 7 are information boxes. These can be filled in before the service, and it would be sensible to check that these boxes are filled in correctly as part of your pre-service checks with the couple. The first six boxes are similar to the corresponding boxes on existing marriage certificates, except that each party’s age is replaced by a date of birth field and the word ‘occupation’ is used instead of ‘rank or profession’.Box 7 is larger to allow for multiple parents to be recorded. It will be up to each couple which of their parents are recorded on this form (and, consequently, the certificate when issued). Most couples will wish record their mother and father in this box. Some may wish to omit a parent. This is a sensitive topic for some couples and so perhaps one best broached in advance rather than on the morning of the service.Deceased parents can be recorded as now, with “(Deceased)” after their name.It is also possible to record step-parents. A step-parent is a person married to a natural parent. Step-parents have “(Step-parent)” after their name. Persons who wish to record both their natural parent(s) and step-parent(s) may do so, which means that each person might have up to four persons listed in box 7.Adoptive parents are treated as natural parents.Although it is for the couple to decide which of the parents are mentioned (and in which order ), couples should be aware that if they need to use the marriage certificate for official purposes, such as for applying for overseas citizenship for themselves or their children, some authorities may expect parents’ details to be present. It is best to complete boxes 1 to 7 by computer for maximum clarity, but it is lawful to fill the whole form in by hand if preferred.Boxes 8 to 11 are completed by hand at the wedding service in registration ink.

What will the marriage schedule look like?

Marriage schedules will look very similar to marriage documents, except that boxes 1 to 7 and the introductory box will be pre-completed by the civil registrar, leaving only boxes 8 to 11 to be completed by hand at the wedding service.

What else needs to be completed?

Although the Church will no longer hold the official public marriage registers, each parish will continue to record marriages taking place (in much the same way as baptisms and confirmations are recorded).Churches should therefore obtain a book to do this. This will be entitled the ‘Register of Marriage Services’.Church House Publishing are taking pre-orders for a suitable book at: https://www.chpublishing.co.uk/books/9780715111796/register-of-marriage-services

What happens to the marriage schedule or marriage document after a service?

Once signed at a wedding service, the marriage schedule or marriage document must be returned to the register office serving the registration district in which the Church is situated.The duty to ensure that the documents are returned belongs to the clergyperson who officiated at the wedding service (that is, the clerk in Holy Orders who signed the document alongside the couple). This is a change from the original announcement for this reform, which suggested that it would be for the couple to register their own wedding. Documents must be returned to the register office within 21 days of the service. Most register offices will accept delivery by post or by hand. Please check with your local register office as to their procedures in this regard, especially during the pandemic.Although the responsibility for ensuring the safe return of the document rests with the clergyperson, that clergyperson could choose to ask others for practical help with this task, such as by asking a parish administrator or other colleague to deliver the document on his or her behalf.The diocesan registry recommends that clergy enclose contact details (e.g. a compliments slip) with deliveries and consider the use of recorded post.

What happens next?

The register office will digitise the information on the form and enter it into a central database of marriages. It will then be in a position to issue a marriage certificate.Couples wishing to obtain a marriage certificate (which must in practice be every couple!) will need to place an order with the register office for the certificate. Most register offices will accept online orders via the local authority website. Others may take orders by telephone. The certificate will usually then be posted to the couple.Marriage certificates are public documents. One option might be for parishes to offer a service by which they order the certificates for the couple and then hand them over, say, at an upcoming service.

How long will it take to obtain a certificate?

This depends firstly on the speed with which the marriage document or marriage schedule is returned. Registrars are then under a duty to register the marriage ‘as soon as reasonably practicable’. In practice this might take about a week. There will then be a period to process the order for a certificate and post it out.It will be important to manage couples’ expectations in this regard, especially whilst the new system beds in. Couples should be advised not to make plans that depend upon them receiving the certificate by a particular date.

Can we give the couple something on the day even if it is not the certificate itself?

Couples and clergy may understandably feel awkward if nothing is handed to the couple recording their special day.The diocesan registry strongly recommends not giving the couple a copy of the marriage document. This is an important operational document recording one marriage and confusion could be caused if multiple copies are in circulation.The General Register Office suggest that a basic acknowledgement could be issued so long as it make clear that it is not a certificate. A template is shown below, which could be put onto parish notepaper:

Should we retain a copy of the marriage document or marriage schedule?

The diocesan registry recommends that you do not do so. Instead, ensure that the new Register of Marriage Services book is completed immediately and consider using recorded post for the delivery of the marriage document.If a marriage document or marriage schedule is lost, there is a mechanism to re-create one. Before doing so, contact the diocesan registry or your local superintendent registrar for advice.

What happens to our existing parish registers and certificate stock?

Incumbents will need to carry out one final quarterly return after 4 May, covering the period up to that date. After this point, your local registration service will make arrangements with you for the collection or return of one of your parish register books and your certificate stock.In the meantime, you are required to mark the books as closed. Detailed information on how to do this may be found in a note on www.lrsa.org.ukOne of the two sets of parish registers will remain in the care of the incumbent as a historical record. This can be retained securely or placed in the diocesan records office. You may continue to allow people to inspect this book but will not be in a position to issue certificates for historical weddings as the certificate book will have been closed or returned.

Where do couples go if they need another copy of their marriage certificate?

From 4 May, clergy will not be able to issue replacement or additional marriage certificates, even for marriages taking place before that date.Instead, enquiries should be referred to the local register office or to https://www.gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate

What happens to the £11 certificate fee we charge at weddings?

The Church will no longer be issuing certificates and so there will no longer be a basis to charge this fee. Instead, couples will pay the £11 charge to the local register office.

What about banns application forms?

Banns application forms (MB 1) are used by parishes to gather the data needed for the certificate, and will now be used to gather the data for the marriage document.Current stocks of MB 1 forms may be lawfully used, but they ask only about fathers and not about parents more widely. Couples will therefore have to be asked separately about their wishes for the parents box.In time it is likely that church stationery providers will update banns application forms to reflect the new format.

How can I find out more about the 4 May changes?

The official training site maintained by the General Register Office is available at www.lrsa.org.uk. A password is required to access this site. Please obtain this from your archdeacon’s office or clergy colleagues if you do not have this.The diocesan registry recommends checking this site periodically over the coming days and weeks as it is being updated from time to time. It will also be the source for the marriage document template.

1 July 2021: changes to citizenship requirements

What are these changes about?

As noted above, ecclesiastical preliminaries (banns or common licences) are the usual mechanism for authorising a Church wedding. However, it is already the case that some couples cannot use ecclesiastical preliminaries. Rather, only couples where both parties are ‘relevant nationals’ may use ecclesiastical preliminaries. This is because, whilst the Church checks citizenship as part of the banns or common licence process, we are not qualified to probe into immigration status in more detail (such as checking whether a person is lawfully in the United Kingdom or is entitled to marry under the terms of his or her visa).Couples containing one or both persons who are not ‘relevant nationals’ may not use ecclesiastical preliminaries but must instead follow the civil preliminary. This route includes a mechanism for carrying out fuller immigration checks.On 1 July 2021, the definition of ‘relevant national’ will change as a result of the completion of the Brexit process.

Who is entitled to use ecclesiastical preliminaries?

Up to and including 30 June 2021, a couple may use ecclesiastical preliminaries if they each hold one of the following nationalities:

British citizenship EEA nationality (the EEA is the EU27 plus Norway, Iceland and

Liechtenstein) Swiss nationality.

From 1 July 2021, the only the following persons may use ecclesiastical preliminaries:

British citizens Irish citizens Persons with ‘settled’ or ‘pre-settled’ status under the EU Settlement

Scheme.

What is the EU Settlement Scheme?

The EU Settlement Scheme is a programme operated by HM Government to preserve the free movement rights held by people who had exercised them prior to 31 December 2020. In other words, it is a scheme open to people who had settled in the UK before the end of the Brexit transition period relying on the free movement rights that existed until that date.Although some people may not yet have finalised their application, it is therefore a scheme for a closed group of people. Persons arriving now from the European Union for the first time will not qualify to join the scheme.

How will I know if a person is eligible?

British and Irish citizens will usually show a passport, and this is all that is required to demonstrate their nationality. Citizenship may be proved in other ways, and the diocesan registry will be happy to advise on this.Persons with ‘settled’ or ‘pre-settled’ status will have to prove this using a web tool at: https://www.gov.uk/view-prove-immigration-statusThe individual first logs on to that site and obtains a ‘sharing code’. This is then provided to the clergyperson or surrogate together with the person’s passport. The clergyperson or surrogate logs on to the site which will provide a passport photograph of the person together with confirmation of their status.It will be important to use the site itself and not to rely on print-outs supplied by the couple. It is also vital to note that it is membership of the scheme that is key, and not whether the person was in fact settled in the United Kingdom. You must not therefore rely on your own knowledge of the couple’s history.

What happens if a person is not eligible to use ecclesiastical preliminaries?

The couple should be referred to their local register office(s) to give notice of their intended marriage. This starts the civil preliminary and should ultimately result in the issue of a marriage schedule.From 1 July 2021, all register offices will offer this service, not just certain larger ‘designated’ register offices.

What should I know if I am referring a couple to the civil preliminary?

The process can take much longer than ecclesiastical preliminaries. It takes at least 29 days to obtain a marriage schedule (from the date of giving notice) but it can take as long as 70 days if immigration checks are carried out. Couples must therefore plan ahead. A marriage schedule lasts for one year, so applying as soon as a date is in mind is recommended.Couples should bring with them a letter from the minister of the parish confirming that they are eligible to marry in his or her church, especially if it is not their own parish church. This is because civil register offices are not equipped to consider whether a person meets the electoral roll or qualifying connection requirementsCouples cannot apply from abroad. A person may only give notice at a register office if they have lived in that office’s registration district for at least seven days prior. This means that persons living abroad will need to book an extended visit to the UK prior to giving notice.

What happens if a couple have started to use ecclesiastical preliminaries before 1 July 2021

Couples who have started the banns or common licence process before 1 July 2021 may be able to complete it after that date even if they become ineligible. Please contact the diocesan registry for guidance if you have couples likely to be in this situation.However, bear in mind the risk of the preliminary failing (e.g. banns not being able to be completed due to pandemic closures). If the couple are left with a need to follow the civil preliminary this is likely to delay their wedding day. It is therefore best to complete preliminaries in good time, bearing in mind their expiry date. Ecclesiastical preliminaries last for three months, whilst marriage schedules are valid for one year.