Conservative commentators and anti-forced-marriage campaigners argue that safeguarding professionals must act without being deterred by allegations of prejudice, while the Home Office stresses that the referral figures are not proof that marriages took place.

The tension centres on alarming age data and the limits of what it can establish. At least 100 children aged 12 or younger were referred to the government’s Forced Marriage Unit over five years, including 27 aged five or under.

The data, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, covers referrals from 2021 to 2025. It also records 62 children aged 10 or below. But the Home Office says a referral may concern an “actual, potential or suspected forced marriage,” and that it does not necessarily mean a marriage has happened or will happen.¹

Dame Jasvinder Sanghera, who fled home at 14 when she faced the prospect of a forced marriage, describes the ages in the figures as “deeply disturbing.” She says children may be promised to someone from birth, with a ceremony contemplated years later, and warns that some cases never reach statutory services.¹ Her concern is that schools and other professionals should identify warning signs before children disappear from education or return after holidays engaged or married.

Right-wing commentary frames that concern as a test of institutional confidence. It argues that perpetrators can use claims of racism or religious intolerance to discourage scrutiny, and that safeguarding duties should take precedence. Sanghera’s formulation is that “cultural acceptance does not mean accepting the unacceptable”; she characterises forced marriage as abuse and a safeguarding concern.²

Officials take a broader, more cautious approach. The Home Office says forced marriage is not specific to any one country, religion or culture, and that there is no single type of victim or perpetrator.¹ Both accounts support early reporting and protection for children, but differ in emphasis: commentators focus on overcoming institutional hesitation, while officials underline the need not to treat referral data as conclusive evidence of a completed offence.

Separate Home Office data covering all ages showed 58 cases with no overseas element in 2025, or 14% of the total, up from 10 cases in 2023. The department said the rise highlights that forced marriages can occur within the UK.¹