Mothers to be put on marriage certificates

MOTHERS’ names could be included on marriage certificates at last after ministers said that legislation put forward by the Church of England “provides a solution to this problem”, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.

A draft bill tabled by a senior bishop has been welcomed by the Home Office, following an impasse over plans to update the documents, which presently only include the names of couples’ fathers. The development comes three years after David Cameron pledged to make the change, saying that the existing system, which dates back to the reign of Queen Victoria, “does not reflect modern Britain”.

Previous proposals had been dismissed on the basis they have included the costly replacement of tens of thousands of register books across the country, or that they failed to allow for same-sex marriages.

But a bill tabled by Dr Alan Smith, one of the 26 Lords Spiritual, sets out a mechanism for marriages to be recorded electronically, with couples simply signing a document submitted for inclusion in a digital register.

An electronic register could include space for the details of both parents regardless of sex. Under the plans a formal certificate would be issued from that database.

The Home Office estimates that the set-up costs of the proposed digital system would be less than £1.3million, with some £30 million of savings made over 10 years as a result of the change.