Last week the Ministry of Justice announced a consultation on the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 which is due to come into force in the autumn of this year (date to be appointed). It will be enacted by way of amendments to Part IV of the Family Law Act 1996, which contain existing powers to make non-molestation orders and occupation orders (often referred to in the press as ‘restraining orders’ or ‘injunctions’).
.
Forced Marriage Orders look set under the Act to be wide injunctive type orders which can be tailored to meet the needs of an individual case and which will be enforceable by way of imprisonment or fine. The terminology and framework used is in many respects borrowed from the original Part IV (for example the courtmust have regard to all the circumstances including the need to secure the health, safety and well-being of the person to be protected), but obviously new definitions are added (‘forced marriage’, ‘free and full consent’) which will have to be tested by caselaw. Applicants may include the victim her/himself, any other person with permission or any ‘relevant third person’ (as defined by the Secretary of State, and without the need for permission).
.
The consultation concerns the relatively limited issue of who should be a ‘relevant third party’. Under the Act such a person or organisation will be allowed to make an application to the court for an order on behalf of the victim (prospective or actual) of a forced marriage, without first obtaining the permission of the court. I anticipate that social services departments are likely to be on the list, but I wonder how consistently or assiduously they are likely to make such applications where the victim is a young adult as opposed to a child. In cases involving children the local authority has clear statutory duties towards children in need or children who are at risk of significant harm, and although to some extent protection against forced marriage for a child could be obtained via s31 care proceedings no doubt these provisions will be helpful for local authorities in cases where young girls (and boys) disappear from school or where there are other markers of a possible abduction and / or forced marriage. Indeed the prospect of using these powers in the first instance as opposed to care proceedings may well be very attractive to a local authority wishing to avoid the exorbitant court fees of several thousand pounds which come into force under the new Public Law Outline as of April. The fee for this type of application looks likely to be set at a far lower figure, although I suppose it is likely that in due course someone will get wise to this and up the fee where a local authority is concerned. Outside the statutory framework of duties towards children, how often will Local Authorities consider it appropriate to intervene in this kind of case?