Scotland child marriage law

Scotland child marriage law: why 16 is not protection

Freedom Charity calls for change as Scotland considers raising the minimum age of marriage to 18.

Child marriage remains legal in Scotland. The Scotland child marriage law allows a 16-year-old to enter a marriage or civil partnership without parental consent, without a safeguarding assessment and without any statutory requirement to check for coercion, grooming or pressure. The law treats that decision as a valid contract. From a child protection perspective, it creates a clear risk.

Freedom Charity works nationally to prevent forced marriage, child marriage, FGM and what it terms dishonour abuse. The charity warns that Scotland remains an outlier in the United Kingdom and wants the Scotland child marriage law brought into line with modern safeguarding standards.

Under the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977, the minimum legal age for marriage is 16. Unlike in many jurisdictions, a 16 or 17-year-old does not need parental consent in order to marry. This legal position predates current child protection frameworks and no longer reflects the direction of UK policy or international advice on children’s rights.

Last reviewed: 22 September 2026. The Scottish Government published a family-law consultation on 29 December 2025 asking whether the minimum age for marriage and civil partnership should rise from 16 to 18. The consultation closed on 21 April 2026. The current legal minimum in Scotland remains 16. Freedom Charity supported raising the minimum age to 18 and continues to argue for accompanying safeguarding, training and accountability.

Freedom Charity’s stated position is that the minimum age for marriage and civil partnership should be 18, with safeguarding measures that help professionals identify coercion, pressure and abuse.

What is the child marriage law in Scotland?

At present, the Scotland child marriage law permits marriage and civil partnership from 16. There is no parental consent requirement and no automatic safeguarding referral when a 16 or 17-year-old presents to marry. In theory, registrars can raise concerns. In practice, there is no universal mechanism that requires a structured risk assessment in every case.

Scotland also has legislation that addresses forced marriage. Courts can issue Forced Marriage Protection Orders to stop a wedding or to protect someone already in a forced marriage. Even so, where a young person is 16 or 17 and appears to co-operate, professionals may hesitate to treat the situation as abuse. The fact that the law itself treats them as old enough to marry can influence how frontline staff respond.

The 2025–26 consultation asked whether Scotland should raise the minimum age of marriage and civil partnership to 18 and whether the forced-marriage offence should be extended so that conduct intended to cause a person under 18 to marry could be criminal even without evidence of coercion. Freedom Charity supported reform and argued for a clear safeguarding response alongside any legislative change.

England and Wales: the loophole that had to close

For many years, England and Wales permitted marriage at 16 with parental consent. Policy makers once believed that parental consent would act as a safeguard. Experience showed something different. In reality, the consent requirement became a loophole. Consent could be presented as a formality even where the child felt unable to refuse. Young people described feeling obliged to agree in front of relatives, with no safe way to say no.

Freedom Charity took part in the wider campaign that helped bring about the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022. This legislation made it illegal for anyone under 18 to marry in England and Wales under any circumstances. Parliament recognised that parental consent did not reliably protect children and that early marriage closely linked to coercion, abuse and loss of education.

Scotland does not rely on parental consent in the same way. However, the absence of a consent requirement does not guarantee free choice. It simply means the law does not insist on safeguards. When a child can marry at 16 without independent checks, grooming, fear or family pressure can remain unseen.

Freedom Charity’s safeguarding position focuses on whether a young person is able to make a decision freely and safely, without coercion, pressure or fear.

A child’s view: pressure dressed as choice

Freedom Charity has spoken to teenagers who were told that marriage at 16 was the respectable or expected thing to do. One girl described how saying no would have meant being labelled ungrateful and disloyal. On paper she agreed to the marriage. In reality, she felt backed into a corner with no safe alternative.

Situations like this do not arise in only one community or country. They appear wherever family honour, community reputation and a child’s future collide. When the law enables marriage at 16, powerful pressures can be presented as personal choice rather than recognised as a safeguarding concern.

Why 18 matters

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as anyone under 18. UNICEF and UNFPA have repeatedly urged governments to set 18 as the minimum age of marriage with no exceptions. The reasoning is straightforward. Before 18, a young person is still developing and remains entitled to the full range of protections that come with childhood.

Where marriage is allowed below 18, several patterns appear again and again:

• professionals hesitate to intervene, assuming it is a private decision

• schools and colleges treat concern as a family matter

• police view disclosures as domestic conflict rather than potential abuse

• registrars lack a formal route to escalate doubts

• children internalise pressure as duty or obligation

These patterns allow abuse to become normalised. They create conditions in which dishonour abuse flourishes.

Freedom Charity uses the term “dishonour abuse” deliberately. The charity rejects the phrase “honour-based abuse” because that wording wrongly suggests there is something honourable in controlling or harming a child. In Freedom’s view, the dishonour lies with the perpetrator, not with the victim.

A global patchwork that reaches into the UK

Rules on marriage below 18 vary internationally. For this article, the relevant point is Scotland’s current law and the Scottish Government’s consultation on whether the minimum age should change. International comparisons should be read against the law and evidence for each jurisdiction rather than treated as interchangeable.

For the United Kingdom, this is not an abstract global issue. Children with links to other countries may be taken abroad to marry. Others may have marriages arranged partly in the UK and partly under overseas systems. A strong and consistent position within the UK, including in Scotland, forms an essential part of a wider safeguarding response.

Why Scotland must change its child marriage law

Freedom Charity believes Scotland now has an opportunity to align its law with current child protection principles. Reform should:

• raise the minimum age of marriage and civil partnership to 18

• ensure that any attempt to arrange marriage under 18 is treated as a safeguarding concern

• provide clear pathways for registrars, teachers, NHS staff and social workers to escalate worries

• link child marriage explicitly with forced marriage and dishonour abuse in guidance and training

Legal reform should not punish children. It should protect them. That approach means combining criminal law where necessary with protective orders, support for those at risk, safe housing when needed and confidential health care.

Professionals repeatedly report uncertainty about when to act. When the law clearly recognises child marriage as abuse, action becomes easier. Where the law is silent or split, hesitation increases and risk grows.

Freedom Charity’s position

Freedom Charity sets out a straightforward position. Any system that permits marriage under 18, whether through parental consent, judicial discretion or lack of scrutiny, leaves children more vulnerable to abuse.

The charity supports the Scottish Government’s consultation on raising the minimum age. It urges that the final legislation:

• sets 18 as the clear minimum age with no exceptions

• embeds safeguarding duties in guidance for all relevant professionals

• is accompanied by training and public education, not only a legal change

Freedom Charity took part in the wider campaign for the England and Wales minimum-age reform alongside other organisations, survivors and advocates. The charity’s position is that any future Scottish reform should be accompanied by training, resources and practical safeguarding guidance.

If you are worried about a child

If you are worried that a child may be at risk of forced or child marriage, Freedom Charity encourages you to act. Professionals should follow their organisation’s safeguarding procedures and may need to contact social services, the police or the United Kingdom Government’s Forced Marriage Unit for advice. Members of the public who are concerned can speak to a trusted professional or contact Freedom Charity for guidance.

Children should never be left to navigate this alone.

Official sources: Scottish Government family-law consultation: minimum age of marriage and civil partnership; Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977, section 1.

About the author

Aneeta Prem MBE, Founder of Freedom Charity and author of But It’s Not Fair and Cut Flowers. Freedom Charity’s separate forced-marriage and FGM lesson resources have received the PSHE Association Quality Mark.

Freedom Charity is a United Kingdom safeguarding charity working to prevent forced marriage, child marriage, FGM and dishonour abuse.