No Questions Asked: Teesside Council Doesn’t Verify If Couples Seeking to Marry Are Related...
- teessidetoday
- Jul 25
- 3 min read
Revelation comes as part of a response to a freedom of Information Request to Hartlepool Borough Council ..
25th July 2025
A recent Freedom of Information request has revealed that a Teesside Council does not routinely check whether couples seeking to marry are related—even in cases where the relationship could raise serious ethical, cultural, or medical concerns, with the findings unearthed in a freedom of information request to Hartlepool Borough Council offering a rare glimpse into how registrars are handling familial relationships during the marriage registration process.
No Proof Required: Registrars Rely on "Questioning"
According to the data obtained, registrars do not require documentary proof that couples are not related. Instead, they rely on verbal questioning during the registration process to determine if there is a “prohibited degree of relationship” between the parties.
Whilst this may be standard procedure nationally, it said to be raising concerns over the lack of rigorous checks, especially given the social sensitivities and health risks associated with consanguineous (blood-related) marriages.
Marriages Between Cousins Not Monitored
The FOI made to Hartlepool Borough Council by a member of the public also confirms that marriages between first cousins are legal in the UK, and that local registrars have no specific policies or guidance in place regarding such unions. These relationships are not classified as prohibited, and as such, no additional scrutiny or documentation is required.
Furthermore, its claimed no data is collected on whether parties to a marriage are related. With the FOI revealing Hartlepool Borough Council does not record familial relationships, ethnicity, or gender of those being married. This lack of granular data means it's impossible to determine how prevalent cousin marriages are in any given area.
Marriage Statistics: Numbers Rebound Post-COVID
The FOI request also asked Hartlepool Borough Council for annual marriage statistics over the past five years. Here's what the council provided:
2019–20: 132 marriages
2020–21: 58 marriages (COVID-19 lockdowns likely affected this figure)
2021–22: 163 marriages
2022–23: 178 marriages
2023–24: 194 marriages
This steady rise suggests a return to pre-pandemic marriage rates, but with no data breakdown by ethnicity or relationship, questions remain about how many of these might involve consanguineous couples.
No Marriages Blocked in Hartlepool Over Relationship Concerns
In a further revelation, the council confirmed that it did not block or prevent any marriages due to concerns over prohibited relationships. This suggests either a complete absence of such cases or, more worryingly, that such relationships may go undetected due to the lack of proper checks.
Campaigners have long argued for better safeguards around cousin marriages, especially in communities where such unions are culturally accepted but raise public health concerns due to increased risk of congenital disorders.
Without clear policy, oversight, or even basic data collection on the issue, it's impossible to gauge the scale or consequences—raising serious questions about transparency over the issue by local councils not just in Hartlepool, but across the country. .
As it stands, the system seemingly operates on trust, with no firm requirement to disclose or verify family relationships.
Whether that’s good enough in 2025 is however up for public debate.
