Forced Marriage Consent and Capacity

Forced Marriage Consent and Capacity: Why Real Consent Matters

By Aneeta Prem MBE, Founder of Freedom Charity
Published: 7 May 2026

Forced marriage consent and capacity must sit at the centre of every serious safeguarding conversation.

Marriage requires more than a ceremony. It requires free, full and informed consent from both people. Without that consent, marriage can become exploitation.

A child cannot be pushed into marriage. Families must not use a disabled adult as a care plan. No woman should be deceived into unpaid care. Equally, no spouse should face pressure to support a visa application for a marriage they did not freely choose.

Families may describe forced marriage as protection, duty, tradition or practical necessity. However, none of those explanations can replace real consent.

Forced marriage consent and capacity: what the law says

GOV.UK forced marriage guidance explains that forced marriage happens where one or both people do not or cannot consent, and pressure or abuse takes place. The guidance also makes clear that the law protects children from any act intended to make them marry before they turn 18, even where nobody uses pressure or abuse.

That legal position matters because forced marriage does not always involve visible violence. It can happen through emotional control, financial abuse, family pressure, deception, immigration pressure or the absence of capacity.

The same guidance says the forced marriage offence includes causing someone who lacks the mental capacity to consent to marriage to get married, whether or not anyone pressures them.

Therefore, professionals must not look only for threats. They must also ask whether the person can consent at all.

What does mental capacity mean?

Mental capacity means the ability to make a particular decision at the time that decision needs to be made.

Capacity does not mean intelligence. Education does not determine it. Disability, learning difficulty, mental health, dementia, brain injury or communication needs should never lead anyone to remove a person’s autonomy without proper evidence.

The multi-agency statutory guidance on forced marriage explains the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Adults start with the presumption of capacity unless evidence shows otherwise. Professionals should also give practical support so people can make their own decisions wherever possible.

To make a decision, a person must understand the relevant information, retain it long enough, weigh it up and communicate their choice. If they cannot do that, they may lack capacity for that specific decision.

This approach protects disabled people from unfair assumptions. A disabled adult has the same right to love, relationships, sexuality, marriage and family life as anyone else.

However, marriage still requires personal consent. If someone cannot understand the nature of marriage, no parent, relative, carer, court, professional or community figure can consent for them.

Government guidance states that no one has a legal basis to agree to marriage, civil partnership or sexual relations on behalf of someone who lacks capacity to make that decision.

That is the legal and moral line.

Can forced marriage happen without threats?

Yes.

Where an adult lacks capacity to consent to marriage, the law does not require coercion in the usual sense. The statutory guidance explains that conduct intended to cause that adult to enter a marriage can amount to forced marriage.

This matters in real life.

A person may smile, repeat words given by relatives or appear calm. They may also say they want to marry. However, those signs do not prove consent.

The forced marriage resource pack warns that people who lack capacity may show no distress. They may appear happy while still lacking the ability to consent.

For that reason, professionals need to ask a deeper question: does this person understand what marriage means?

Why visible coercion is not the whole story

Many people still picture forced marriage as a frightened young person being taken abroad. That risk remains real. Freedom Charity has worked for years to help children, schools and professionals recognise those warning signs.

However, forced marriage can also happen quietly.

A disabled adult may not understand marriage. A woman may enter a marriage without knowing the truth. In other cases, a spouse may face pressure to support a visa application after a ceremony. Families may also try to solve care, reputation, immigration or financial problems through a marriage that one or both people did not freely choose.

Safeguarding must recognise all of those risks.

Silence does not prove consent. Nor does compliance, confusion or a wedding ceremony.

The 2025 figures show why this matters

Freedom Charity has already analysed the 2025 Forced Marriage Unit figures. Those figures show why forced marriage consent and capacity must form part of every serious safeguarding discussion.

In 2025, the Forced Marriage Unit received 1,295 contacts relating to possible forced marriage and/or FGM. It provided tailored assistance in 406 cases. GOV.UK also makes clear that these figures only cover cases reported to the Forced Marriage Unit, so they do not show the full scale of this hidden abuse.

The 2025 Forced Marriage Unit statistics record 163 cases involving victims aged 17 and under. They also record 75 cases involving mental capacity concerns, 301 female victims and 105 male victims.

Those numbers tell an important story.

Forced marriage harms girls and women disproportionately. Nevertheless, boys and men can also become victims. Children remain at serious risk, while adults with learning disabilities or impaired capacity can also face targeting. In addition, women may become trapped in unpaid care, and spouses can face immigration pressure after a ceremony.

Good safeguarding must recognise the whole pattern.

A disabled adult is not a care plan

Some forced marriage cases involve disabled people or people whose capacity to consent has come into doubt.

Families may present marriage as care. Parents may worry about who will look after a son or daughter when they grow older or die. Others may believe that a spouse will provide long-term support. In some cases, relatives may think marriage will make the person appear “normal” or help someone come to the UK.

None of those reasons creates consent.

This concern appears in the parliamentary record. During debate on forced marriage legislation in January 2014, members of the House of Lords discussed cases where families viewed marriage as a way to provide continuing care for a son or daughter with learning disabilities, or as a way to improve the chance of securing a visa to the UK.

The debate also recognised another risk. Relatives or others may find it easier to deceive or pressure a person with learning disabilities into acting as a visa sponsor.

Lord Toby Harris declared his role as chair of Freedom Charity and supported stronger protection for people who may lack capacity to consent to marriage. Hansard records that intervention as part of the legal history of forced marriage protection.

That history matters. Freedom Charity’s concern about consent, capacity and forced marriage has never been theoretical. Parliament considered these risks when the law changed.

A woman is not an unpaid carer by marriage

This issue also affects women in a particular way.

A woman may come to the UK without knowing the truth about the man she has been expected to marry. She may not know about his capacity, care needs, disability, ability to understand marriage, or ability to enter a full marital relationship. After the ceremony, the family may expect her to become a wife, unpaid carer, domestic worker and family solution.

That does not amount to real consent.

Serious deception can undermine free and informed consent. It should also trigger safeguarding concern. A woman cannot make a meaningful choice if others hide the reality of the marriage from her. She should not be reduced to unpaid labour under the language of wifehood.

The same principle applies in reverse. A man must not be deceived, pressured or used. Families must not turn a vulnerable adult into an immigration tool. They must not turn any spouse into a solution to a care problem.

Consent must exist on both sides.

Reluctant sponsors and immigration pressure

Forced marriage does not always end with a ceremony. Control can continue through visa applications, money, threats, shame, isolation and family pressure.

GOV.UK forced marriage guidance says the Forced Marriage Unit can help in “reluctant sponsor” cases, where an unwanted spouse is due to move to the UK.

This is a safeguarding issue, not simply an immigration issue.

A person may face pressure to sponsor a spouse they did not freely choose. A woman may face pressure to support the visa application of a man she did not freely marry. In another case, relatives may use a disabled adult as a route into the UK. Meanwhile, a spouse overseas may have entered the marriage without knowing the truth.

The answer is not suspicion of any community, country or religion. Forced marriage does not belong to one background. Instead, agencies need better safeguarding, earlier intervention and a sharper understanding of consent.

The public test: could this person truly choose?

Professionals should not begin with the family’s explanation. They should begin with the person.

The right questions are practical. Does the person understand what marriage means? Can they grasp the legal, emotional, sexual, financial and practical consequences? Do they retain that information long enough to decide? Can they weigh it up and communicate a clear choice?

Professionals should also consider whether the person can say no without fear, and whether they can speak away from family pressure.

The other spouse needs equal attention. They need to know the truth about the marriage, the person’s capacity, care needs and daily reality. Safeguarding professionals should also consider whether the family expected unpaid care, whether immigration status created pressure, and whether isolation, housing, money or shame made it harder to leave.

Without these questions, abuse can hide in plain sight.

Schools can see what others miss

Freedom Charity’s 2025 Forced Marriage Unit figures article explains why schools remain central to prevention.

Children rarely report forced marriage risk in legal language. They may talk about a family trip, pressure at home, fear of shame, or anxiety about the future. Some children become quiet, withdrawn or absent. Others may suddenly mention an engagement or marriage plan.

A school may be the only place where a child has space away from family pressure. Therefore, teachers and safeguarding leads need confidence to notice changes, ask safe questions and act early.

Freedom Charity’s PSHE educational resources help schools teach forced marriage, FGM, dishonour abuse and consent within a safeguarding framework.

Early recognition can prevent harm before a child disappears from education, reaches an airport, or becomes trapped in a marriage.

Social care, police, health and registrars must recognise consent and capacity

Forced marriage consent and capacity should concern every frontline service.

GOV.UK guidance addresses professionals including police, social workers, teachers, health professionals, adult social care, children’s social care, housing staff, registrars, safeguarding teams and border staff.

Each service may see a different warning sign.

A school may notice absence or anxiety. Adult social care may understand a person’s learning disability but know nothing about a planned marriage. Health professionals may see distress, pregnancy, sexual harm or controlling relatives. Registrars may hear rehearsed answers or notice a third party speaking for the couple. Immigration officials may identify a reluctant sponsor or someone who does not understand what they are signing.

No agency should assume that someone else has checked consent.

Marriage cannot solve care, shame or immigration pressure

Families may describe forced marriage as care, protection, tradition, religion, reputation, duty or practical necessity.

Professionals need to look past the explanation and test the reality.

They need to know whether the person can choose freely, whether they can consent, and whether the other spouse knows the truth. They should also consider whether anyone has faced silence, pressure, isolation or entrapment. If immigration status or unpaid care sits at the centre of the arrangement, safeguarding concerns increase.

Where consent is absent, the language must stay clear.

This is not an arranged marriage. It is not a care plan. Nor is it a cultural misunderstanding, private family matter or spouse visa solution.

It is forced marriage.

Dishonour abuse must be named accurately

Freedom Charity uses the term dishonour abuse because there is no honour in coercion, control, deception, sexual violence, forced marriage or abuse.

Language matters. When professionals use soft language, families can hide behind culture, shame, reputation or tradition.

Forced marriage is not culture. It is not tradition. It is not private family business when consent is absent.

It is abuse.

What needs to change now

The law has moved further than public understanding. As a result, people remain at risk.

First, every forced marriage training programme should include mental capacity, learning disability and reluctant sponsor cases. Training must not focus only on girls being taken abroad.

Second, schools need to understand that forced marriage can affect boys as well as girls. Warning signs may include absence, travel plans, anxiety, fear of shame, sudden engagement, or a child saying they feel frightened about a “holiday”.

Third, adult safeguarding teams should treat marriage plans involving a person with learning disabilities or impaired capacity as a serious safeguarding concern. They should not wait until after a ceremony.

Fourth, registrars and immigration officials need confidence to recognise capacity concerns, reluctance, coercion and deception. A spouse who appears uncertain, frightened, rehearsed or unable to explain the relationship may need protection.

Finally, agencies must not ignore women brought into marriages. If deception, unpaid care, immigration pressure, housing control, financial control or family shame traps a woman, she may also need safeguarding support.

Freedom Charity’s position

Freedom Charity’s position is clear.

Children should never be pushed into marriage. Disabled adults must never become care plans. Women should not face deception into unpaid care, and spouses should not face pressure to support visa applications for marriages they did not freely choose.

Family anxiety does not create consent. A ceremony does not erase abuse.

Marriage without real consent becomes exploitation.

If you are worried about someone

If someone faces immediate danger, call 999.

If you worry that a child, young person or adult may face forced marriage, seek safeguarding advice urgently. Do not contact the family or attempt mediation, because that can increase the risk.

Schools and professionals can use Freedom Charity’s school training, professional training, PSHE educational resources and forced marriage information to recognise risk earlier and respond safely.

Freedom Charity also provides information through its helpline, educational books including But It’s Not Fair and Cut Flowers, and safeguarding resources for children, schools and professionals.

The earlier someone recognises risk, the greater the chance of preventing harm.

Final word

Consent is not a ceremonial word. It is the foundation of marriage.

When consent is missing, the issue is no longer family expectation. It becomes safeguarding, human rights and law.

A husband without capacity should never become a visa route. A wife deceived into unpaid care should never become a family solution. No child should be pushed into marriage, and no spouse should face forced sponsorship.

Marriage without real consent is not marriage.

It is exploitation.