The Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages and Registration of Civil Partnerships (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2015

Statutory Instruments

2015 No. 117

Registration Of Births, Deaths, Marriages Etc., Civil Partnership, England And Wales

The Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages and Registration of Civil Partnerships (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2015

Made

2nd February 2015

Laid before Parliament

5th February 2015

Coming into force

2nd March 2015

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 5(1) and (2) of, and paragraph 1 of Schedule 3 to, the Public Expenditure and Receipts Act 1968(1), and sections 34(1) and 258(2) of the Civil Partnership Act 2004(2) and now vested in her(3), makes the following Order:

Citation and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages and Registration of Civil Partnerships (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2015 and comes into force on 2nd March 2015.

Amendment of the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Fees) Order 2010

2.  For paragraph 3 of the Schedule to the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Fees) Order 2010(4) substitute—

“3.	Marriage Act 1949 section 27(6)(5)	Entry in marriage notice book—
		(a) where both parties to the proposed marriage are exempt persons within the meaning of section 49 Immigration Act 2014(6)	£35.00	£35.00
		(b) in any other case	N/A	£47.00 (fee payable from 2nd March 2015) ”

Amendment of the Registration of Civil Partnerships (Fees) Order 2014

3.  For paragraph 1 of the Schedule to the Registration of Civil Partnerships (Fees) Order 2014(7) substitute—

“1.	Attestation by an authorised person(8) of the necessary declaration(9) at a place provided by the registration authority—			The registration authority(10) to which a notice of proposed civil partnership (“the notice”) is given(11)
	(a) where both parties to the proposed civil partnership are exempt persons within the meaning of section 49 of the Immigration Act 2014(12)	£35.00	£35.00
	(b) in any other case	N/A	£47.00 (fee payable from 2nd March 2015)”

James Brokenshire

Minister of State

Home Office

2nd February 2015

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the fees payable when giving notice of marriage or civil partnership following changes made by the Immigration Act 2014 (c. 22) (the “2014 Act”). The 2014 Act introduces a new duty for the superintendent registrar (in the case of marriages) and the registration authority (in the case of civil partnerships) to refer proposed marriages and civil partnerships involving one or more people who are not exempt to the Secretary of State for the purposes of investigating whether the proposed marriage or civil partnership is a sham. Those who are exempt from referral (exempt persons) are defined in section 49 of the 2014 Act. This Order introduces a higher fee to be paid by persons giving notice of marriage or civil partnership at the offices of the superintendent registrar or registration authority where the duty of referral applies.

An impact assessment has not been prepared for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.

(1)

1968 c. 14. Relevant amendments were made to paragraph 1 of Schedule 3 by S.I. 1996/276 and S.I. 2008/678.

(2)

2004 c. 33.

(3)

References to “the Chancellor of the Exchequer” were substituted in the second column of paragraph 1 of Schedule 3 to the Public Expenditure and Receipts Act 1968 by S.I. 1996/273; and references to the “Secretary of State” were subsequently substituted in the second column of paragraph 1 of Schedule 3 to that Act by S.I. 2008/678. Functions previously conferred on the Chancellor of the Exchequer in section 34(1) were transferred to the Secretary of State by S.I. 2008/678.

(4)

S.I. 2010/441, amended by S.I. 2012/760 and S.I. 2014/1790.

(5)

1949 c. 76; section 27(6) was amended by S.I 2009/2821. The fee under section 27(6) was most recently amended by S.I. 2012/760 (and was restated in S.I. 2014/760).

(6)

2014 c. 22.

(7)

S.I. 2014/1789

(8)

See section 8(6) of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (c. 33) (“the Act”) for the definition of “authorised person”

(9)

See section 8(4) of the Act for the meaning of “the necessary declaration”, and section 8(3) of the Act for the requirement for an authorised person to attest the necessary declaration.

(10)

See section 28 of the Act for the definition of “registration authority”.

(11)

See section 8 of the Act for the requirement to give a notice of proposed civil partnership.

(12)

2014 c. 22.