University support for forced marriage risk

Overview

Forced marriage and honour-based abuse (HBA) raise safeguarding, criminal, and equality issues. A university in England and Wales does not have a single statutory code dedicated to these matters, but it has clear duties and responsibilities that arise from several overlapping sources: its general duty of care to students, the statutory multi-agency guidance on forced marriage, safeguarding obligations, data protection law, and its own internal safeguarding and student support policies. The distinction matters. Forced marriage (where one or both parties do not or cannot consent and coercion is involved) is a specific criminal offence under section 121 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. “Honour-based abuse” is not a single offence but an umbrella term for controlling, coercive, threatening or violent behaviour committed to protect perceived family or community “honour”, which can involve existing criminal offences such as assault, coercive control, harassment, threats to kill, and false imprisonment.

Legal and policy framework

The key reference points a university should be working to are the Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office material on forced marriage, in particular the multi-agency statutory guidance for those with responsibilities to safeguard adults and children, and the multi-agency practice guidelines for frontline workers, which expressly include educational staff. These make clear that professionals who come into contact with a person at risk have a role in identifying risk, responding safely, and referring on. The Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) operates a public helpline (020 7008 0151, and out of hours via the Global Response Centre) providing advice to both victims and professionals.

Alongside this, universities are subject to the Care Act 2014 framework where an adult at risk has care and support needs, the general safeguarding expectations that flow from Office for Students conditions and their own governance, and equality duties under the Equality Act 2010. A forced marriage can also engage protective court orders, chiefly a Forced Marriage Protection Order (FMPO) under Part 4A of the Family Law Act 1996, obtainable from the Family Court.

What supportive action a university should take

A university should be prepared to do the following when a student is identified as at risk.

Take the disclosure seriously and act quickly. Risk in these cases can escalate rapidly, particularly around university holidays, when a student may be taken abroad. A student who is worried about a forthcoming trip abroad, or who has stopped attending, or whose family is suddenly controlling their movements, should be treated as potentially high risk.

Speak to the student alone, in a private and safe setting, and never involve or contact the family, community members, or any interpreter connected to the family. This is a central rule in the national guidance. Involving the family, or attempting mediation or family reconciliation, can dramatically increase the danger to the student.

Respect confidentiality but understand its limits. The student’s wishes should ordinarily be respected and information handled sensitively, but confidentiality cannot be absolute where there is a serious risk to life or of significant harm. Staff should be candid with the student about what may need to be shared and with whom, and share information on a strict need-to-know basis. A university should not promise absolute secrecy it cannot keep.

Assign a single named contact. The student should not have to repeat their story to multiple staff. A designated safeguarding lead or student support professional should take ownership of the case.

Carry out a risk assessment and safety plan. This includes practical safety measures such as agreeing a code word, keeping a personal safety plan, advising the student to keep important documents (passport, ID, bank cards, immigration documents) in a safe place, and thinking through accommodation safety if the student lives in halls or with family.

Refer to specialist help. The university should signpost and, with the student’s consent or where risk justifies it, refer to the Forced Marriage Unit, the police (999 in an emergency, or reporting a concern), local authority adult or children’s safeguarding, and specialist charities such as Karma Nirvana (which runs a national HBA helpline) and, in Wales, the Live Fear Free helpline.

Consider immediate protective steps for travel risk. If there is any indication the student may be taken abroad, the FMU can advise, and legal routes include applying for a Forced Marriage Protection Order, which can require surrender of a passport and prohibit removal from the jurisdiction. Emergency (“without notice”) orders are available. If a student has already been taken abroad, the FMU can assist with repatriation.

Practical university support the student can expect

Beyond safeguarding referral, a university should offer the pastoral and academic support within its gift. This typically includes access to student welfare and wellbeing services and counselling, help with mental health support, and adjustments to academic requirements such as extensions, deferrals, or mitigating circumstances arrangements so that the crisis does not damage the student’s studies. It should also consider practical measures such as help securing safe alternative accommodation, financial hardship support, and discreet handling of attendance and contact so that the student’s whereabouts and situation are not disclosed to anyone who might inform the family. Security services on campus may assist with safety planning.

Overseas and international students

If the student is an international student, additional care is needed. Immigration status can be used as a means of control, and a student may fear that reporting will affect their visa. The university should reassure the student that support and safeguarding come first and should coordinate carefully with the FMU, which has particular expertise in cases with an overseas dimension, before any information is shared that could reach the family or sponsor.

What a university should not do

It should not attempt to mediate, reconcile, or negotiate with the family. It should not send the student home to “sort it out”, contact the family, involve community or religious leaders chosen by the family, breach the student’s confidence to family members, ignore or minimise the disclosure, or use family members or family-connected individuals as interpreters. Each of these is expressly warned against in the national guidance because it can put the student at serious risk.

Where the facts are unclear

Not every family disagreement about a relationship or marriage amounts to forced marriage or honour-based abuse. The legal test for forced marriage turns on the absence of free and full consent and the use of coercion, threats, or pressure (which can be physical, psychological, financial, sexual, or emotional), or the incapacity of a person to consent. There is a clear line between a marriage that is arranged with the genuine consent of both parties, which is lawful, and one imposed through coercion, which is not. Where the picture is uncertain, the university’s role is not to adjudicate this, but to assess and manage risk, keep the student safe, and refer to those with expertise, erring on the side of caution where there is any indication of coercion or threat.

Practical next steps

1. Identify the university’s designated safeguarding lead and disclose to them, or contact student welfare services, so a named contact and risk assessment can be put in place.

2. Contact the Forced Marriage Unit for advice, and in any emergency or where there is immediate danger, call 999.

3. Preserve safety: agree a safe means of contact, keep key documents secure, and if travel abroad is a risk, get urgent advice about a Forced Marriage Protection Order from the Family Court or through a specialist solicitor or charity.

4. Use specialist charities such as Karma Nirvana for ongoing support, and in Wales the Live Fear Free helpline.

5. Ask the university about academic mitigations, safe accommodation, and financial support so that dealing with the situation does not jeopardise the student’s studies.

If you are asking because you or a specific student are currently at risk, the most useful additional facts would be whether there is any imminent travel abroad planned, whether the student is under 18 or an adult with care and support needs, their immigration status, and whether any threats or violence have already occurred, because these change both the urgency and the protective options available.