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Marriage age raised in England and Wales to protect children from today
The change in law which has taken effect from today has been hailed a ‘victory’ for survivors
The legal marriage age has been raised to 18 years old in England and Wales in an effort to prevent forced child marriage.
The legal age has been raised from today, Monday February 27th, and 16-17 year olds can no longer marry or enter a civil partnership, not even with parental consent. The change, under the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act, means it is now a crime to exploit vulnerable children by arranging for them to marry under any circumstances whether force was used or not.
The change in law which has taken effect from today has been hailed a ‘victory’ for survivors. This law will also cover ‘traditional’ non-legally binding ceremonies which are viewed as marriage by the parties and their families, the government has said.
The newly effective legislation has been described as a ‘huge leap forward’ in tackling ‘hidden abuse’ in forced marriage. Speaking to ITV, Natasha Rattu, director of the Karma Nirvana charity, which is a member of the Girls Not Brides Coalition, said she hopes there will be better identification and reporting of cases.
She said: “The change to legislation on child marriage is a huge victory for survivors. It is a huge leap forward to tackling this usually hidden abuse and will provide a greater degree of protection to those at risk.
“Last year, the national Honour Based Abuse helpline supported 64 cases of child marriage, representing only a small picture of a much bigger problem. We hope that the new law will help to increase identification and reporting, affording greater protection to children at risk.”
The government’s forced marriage unit dealt with 118 cases where they provided support and advice for victims under the age of 18 in 2021. The Ministry of Justice has said statistics show that forced marriage is more likely to affect girls than boys, with figures for England and Wales in 2018 revealing that 28 boys married under the age of 18 compared with 119 girls.
Justice secretary Dominic Raab has said perpetrators will face the ‘full force of the law’, with someone found guilty of arranging under-age marriages potentially facing a prison sentence of up to seven years, saying: “This law will better protect vulnerable young people, by cracking down on forced marriage in our society.”
“Those who act to manipulate children into marrying under-age will now rightly face the full force of the law,” he added.
Conservative MP Pauline Latham, who introduced the Bill in Parliament in 2021, said Monday is a ‘landmark day for the campaigners who have worked relentlessly for over five years to ban child marriage in this country’. She added: “Child marriage destroys lives and through this legislation we will protect millions of boys and girls over the coming years from this scourge.”
Safeguarding minister Sarah Dines said the Government is working to ensure that, as well as the new law, training and guidance will be provided to equip police, social workers and other frontline professionals to help ‘support and safeguard victims’.