Legal recognition of humanist marriages

A humanist wedding is a non-religious ceremony that is deeply personal and conducted by a humanist celebrant. It differs from a civil wedding in that it is entirely hand-crafted and reflective of the humanist beliefs and values of the couple, conducted by a celebrant who shares their beliefs and values.

Weddings conducted by a humanist celebrant can be performed in any part of the UK or Crown Dependencies, and they come with legal recognition in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Jersey, and Guernsey – where they are very popular. But they don’t come with legal recognition in England, Wales, or the Isle of Man. This is discriminatory, because religious people have a choice between being married by a civil registrar or being married by a representative of their religion who shares their approach to life, but those wanting a humanist wedding have to have a separate civil marriage to be legally married. This causes additional expense and an administrative burden that religious couples don’t have to face.

Humanist marriages can be recognised in England and Wales by the UK Government laying an order, under powers from the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. We have been campaigning relentlessly for the Government to make use of said power, but instead, the Government has chosen to review the issue three times, with each review growing in scale. In 2020, the High Court found the lack of provisions for humanist couples is discriminatory, but allowed more time for a then-ongoing Law Commission review to conclude. This reported in 2022, and yet we still don’t have legal recognition.

Support the campaign

Write to your MP explaining that the existing marriage laws discriminate against humanists, and asking them to raise the matter with Ministers. Please copy any replies you get to Humanists UK.

In depth

We have long campaigned for reform of marriage laws – in order to gain legal recognition for both humanist and same-sex marriage ceremonies. We want the law throughout the UK and Crown Dependencies to allow humanist celebrants to conduct legally recognised marriages, as it does in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, and neighbouring countries like the Republic of Ireland. But to date there is still no recognition of our wedding ceremonies in England, Wales, or the Isle of Man.

A change in law would give non-religious people the same choice that religious people have of a meaningful ceremony conducted by a person who shares their values and approach to life.

Around the UK, Ireland, and Crown Dependencies

Humanist marriages have long been legally recognised around different local jurisdictions, and have had a transformative effect:

In Northern Ireland, a 2018 Court of Appeal judgment on a human rights challenge led to the first legally recognised humanist marriages happening there that August. Since then, humanist marriages have exploded in popularity at a faster rate than they have in Scotland and now comprise 15% of all marriages in Northern Ireland.

England and Wales

In England and Wales, the Marriage Act 2013 created a new category of legally recognised marriage in England and Wales – ‘marriages according to the usages of belief based organisations’. This category was created by the UK Parliament so that the Government could enact legal recognition of humanist marriages by secondary legislation – i.e. without needing a new Act of Parliament. But in the many years since, the Government has not followed through, instead subjecting the matter to numerous reviews and consultations of ever-increasing scale. The first of those in 2014 found over 90% of respondents in favour of legal recognition, but instead it led to a second review, and then a third. With over 1,200 couples a year already having humanist wedding ceremonies that are not legally recognised, we are urging the UK Government to act swiftly and bring about legal recognition.

High Court judgment

In 2020, in a case brought by six humanist couples, High Court judge Mrs Justice Eady DBE ruled that the failure to provide legally recognised humanist marriages means that ‘the present law gives rise to… discrimination’. She also ruled that, in light of that, the Secretary of State for Justice ‘cannot… simply sit on his hands’ and do nothing.

However, she said, given that the Conservative Government at that time was giving the matter consideration in the form of the third review into marriage law – by the Law Commission – the Government’s refusal to act immediately could be justified ‘at this time’ and concluded, ‘Although I may deprecate the delay that has occurred since 2015, I cannot ignore the fact that there is currently an on-going review of the law of marriage in this country.’

As a consequence, she declined to make a formal declaration that the Government is acting unlawfully. We welcomed the court making clear that the failure to provide legal recognition of humanist marriages cannot be justified other than by saying that there is a review to redress the issue, but expressed disappointment at the Government being given more time to resolve it, particularly given how long humanist couples have already had to wait for legal recognition.

Present situation

The Law Commission published its review of marriage law in 2022, but the Conservative Government didn’t respond to it before the 2024 general election. While in opposition, the Labour Government had consistently voiced support for laying the Order. But now it is in Government, it says it is considering the Law Commission’s proposals and will set out its position on marriage in due course.

This is an outstanding human rights issue affecting thousands of couples and so the Government should just go ahead and resolve it immediately. Further, humanists have already been waiting for this change for decades on the back of one review or another. In 1999-2005 the Labour Government did a review of humanist marriages. But nothing came of it. The same is true for the 2014 MoJ, 2015 Law Commission, and 2018-22 Law Commission consultations on humanist marriages by the Conservative Government. This matter has been reviewed enough. In the meantime, thousands of couples have missed out on the chance to have the sort of legal marriage they want.

Legal recognition of humanist marriages would be hugely popular, is simple to bring about, good for families and for the economy, and end a clear inequality between humanist and religious couples. There is no good reason to delay such recognition. We are therefore calling on the UK Government to urgently use its existing powers to legally recognise humanist marriages.

Northern Ireland

We brought about legal recognition in Northern Ireland in 2018, supporting Laura Lacole and Eunan O’Kane to take a court case. Since then, our celebrants have conducted thousands of wedding ceremonies. In 2022, the NI Government announced that it intends to write humanist marriages explicitly into Northern Irish law. Since then it has been developing a new Act to do this. We have been working with officials to this end.

What we’re doing

In England and Wales, we are calling on the Government to legally recognise humanist marriages without delay by laying the Order using its powers from the 2013 Marriage Act.

We meet regularly with relevant ministers, civil servants, and wider stakeholders to call for this reform, and also work with parliamentarians to raise the topic within the UK Parliament.

In June 2025 we supported numerous cross-party MPs to share personal stories calling for legal recognition of humanist marriages in a Westminster Hall debate. In response, the Government implied the reform will be forthcoming, but set out that it is considering the Law Commission review. We also saw Vice-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group Siân Berry MP ask an oral question on the subject on the floor of the House of Commons. The Minister set out her strong personal support for legal recognition but said the Government will set out its position on weddings reform in due course.

We have also supported members of the House of Lords to raise humanist marriages repeatedly. In October 2024 we saw peers from across the Housespeak in favour of the immediate legal recognition of humanist marriages in England and Wales. In December 2024 we supported another oral question in the Lords, and another in February 2025, and a subsequent question in June of this year. Those questions have consistently seen support from the Labour, Conservative, and Liberal Democrat parties, from the Crossbenches, and two of them even had support from a bishop.

We worked with the Joint Committee on Human Rights to ask Government to know when and how it proposes to address the continuing lack of legal recognition for humanist weddings in England and Wales given the 2020 legal case. Likewise, we also secured the Justice Committee to press the Government to legally recognise humanist marriages without further delay.

Prior to the General Election, we helped coordinate Stephen Fry and Sani Toksvig to urge Labour to recognise humanist weddings if elected. This is because legal recognition would have a positive impact on LGBT couples due to the fact that most LGBT are non-religious and due to the fact that less than 1% of places of worship in England and Wales offer same-sex marriage.

We recently commissioned YouGov to poll on humanist marriages which revealed huge public and MP support for legal recognition. The public poll found that 70% of adults in the UK are supportive, with only 15% opposed. The support is consistent across religious and belief groups, with 77% of non-religious adults supporting reform, as well as 58% of Anglicans, 55% of Catholics, 55% of other Christians, and 74% of those from other religions. Only 8% of non-religious adults oppose the change, and only 27% of Christians. Among MPs overall, support stands at 62%, with only 13% opposed, with overwhelming support from Labour MPs whereby 74% think the Government should legally recognise humanist marriages.

Appendix: Past work on this issue

  • During the passage of the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013 through the UK Parliament, we worked hard to see humanist marriages gain legal recognition in England and Wales. After it became clear that a majority in both houses of Parliament were in favour of legalisation, the Government inserted a section in the Bill that means it can enact legal recognition to humanist marriages without requiring a new Act. The law also said the Government had to consult and make a decision on doing so before the end of 2014.
  • The results of the subsequent consultation, published in 2014, showed over 90% of respondents in favour of legal recognition, but the Government still blocked the move, instead ordering the Law Commission to do a ‘scoping exercise’ of wider marriage law. The Commission reported in 2015, and recognised the unfairness of the lack of recognition of humanist marriage. However, the Government still has not enacted legal recognition, and in 2018 instead asked the Law Commission to conduct a further review. This ran to 2022 and led to no further action.
  • In 2017, we took a case in Northern Ireland with two of our patrons, Laura Lacole and Eunan O’Kane, to allow them to have a legally recognised humanist marriage. They won their case the following summer and the first legally recognised marriages began from that August.
  • In 2018, through the efforts of Humanists UK patron Louise Doublet and after years of campaigning by Humanists UK, humanist marriages gained legal recognition in Jersey. The first marriages took place in 2019.
  • In 2018, the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group conducted an inquiry into humanist marriage in England and Wales and the issues preventing the Government giving it legal recognition. It concluded that ‘the human rights case for such reform is overwhelming. Given these facts it is far past time the Government enacts legal recognition. We can see no reason for continuing delay.’ In 2022, it produced a second, concluding that the case for legal recognition has only grown stronger following the 2020 High Court judgment.
  • In 2019 we published research from Scotland showing that couples married in a humanist ceremony there are almost four times less likely to divorce compared with all other types of marriages. This, we said, further pointed to the desirability of legal recognition of humanist marriages.
  • In 2020 the Guernsey States Assembly voted in favour of bringing about legal recognition of humanist marriages after a consultation showed 94% in favour. The new law came into effect in 2021, with the first humanist celebrant gaining accreditation.
  • In 2020 a Bill to bring about the legal recognition of humanist marriages was introduced to the House of Commons by Rehman Chisti MP, the Prime Minister’s former Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief. The Bill was sponsored by fellow Conservative MP Crispin Blunt, Labour MPs Angela Eagle, Steve McCabe, Jeff Smith, and Rachel Hopkins, and Liberal Democrat MPs Wera Hobhouse and Daisy Cooper.
  • In 2022 we organised a joint letter signed by 53 cross-party MPs and peers, calling on the Government to immediately legally recognise humanist marriages. This followed the Government’s decision to extend legal recognition to outdoor civil and religious marriages, contradicting its stated position that it will wait until the outcome of the Law Commission’s review of marriage law before conducting any piecemeal reform.
  • In 2022 we supported a Westminster Hall debate on the legal recognition of humanist marriages, backed by 26 cross-party MPs.
  • To commemorate the ten-year anniversary of the Same-Sex Marriage Act in 2023, we hand-delivered hundreds of wedding invitations to the Justice Secretary alongside Peter McGraith and David Cabreza, the first same-sex couple in England and Wales to legally marry. The invites were filled in by Humanists UK members, all highlighting the personal significance of such a move for the senders, and ‘cordially invited’ the Justice Secretary ‘to afford couples freedom of choice and legally recognise humanist marriages in England and Wales’.We have met repeatedly with Secretaries of State and other Government ministers about the need for a change in the law in England and Wales, and will continue to do so until humanist marriages are legally recognised.

Page last reviewed: 10 February 2026