At least 100 children aged 12 or younger have been referred to the Government’s forced marriage unit over the last five years, figures show, alongside warnings from a campaigner that “there will be missing children” when schools re-open from the summer holidays.
The total includes 27 children up to five years old, according to Home Office data obtained via a Freedom of Information request.
Forcing someone into marriage is a criminal offence across the UK, with the legal age of marriage in England and Wales raised from 16 to 18 in 2023.
The forced marriage unit (FMU) operates nationwide and receives referrals from police, social services, education staff, friends, family, colleagues, or individuals seeking help and guidance directly.
The details released cover five calendar years from 2021 to 2025. Figures for certain years were withheld due to low numbers that could risk identifying the individuals involved.
Overall, the data confirms at least 100 children up to 12 years old were referred across the five-year period, including 62 aged 10 or under, and 27 aged five or below.
The Home Office said a referral means some details have been provided to the unit about an actual, potential or suspected forced marriage, but that not every referral means a forced marriage has or will take place.
Dame Jasvinder Sanghera, who ran away from her Derby home aged 14 when faced with the prospect of a forced marriage, branded the young ages “deeply disturbing” but said it can be the case a child is “promised to somebody from birth”, with the marriage taking place years later.
She said: “I know that when schools open in September, there will be missing children.
“The opportunity to identify them was pre-school holidays. Is somebody going to ask where they are, or are they simply just going to go off school roll?
“Or children will come back engaged or even married.”
The charity founder, who was given a damehood for services to the victims of child, forced marriage and honour-based abuse, said the true incidence of forced marriage is likely to be higher as there is “inevitably going to be a high number of children and adults whose situations never reach statutory services.”
The Home Office has said forced marriage is “not a problem specific to one country, religion or culture; there is no archetypal victim or perpetrator, and no 2 cases are the same”.
Dame Jasvinder warned of perpetrators hiding behind accusations of racism, as she insisted forced marriage is a clear safeguarding issue.
She said: “The tactics of perpetrators will be to use that. So they will try to put you on the back foot. ‘This is our culture. This is our religion. You’re being racist’ or whatever, to put you on the back foot, to make you look the other way.
“And I do feel that it still does exist in terms of professionals having the confidence (to report such safeguarding concerns).”
She added: “Cultural acceptance does not mean accepting the unacceptable.
“This is abuse. That’s why I’ve always framed it as that, as a safeguarding concern.”
She said teachers and other professionals must have the confidence to report their concerns.
Recalling an experience in recent years, during which she went into a sixth form school to talk about her own life, Dame Jasvinder said some boys walked out while a number of girls approached her afterwards to say they were facing forced marriages.
The figures obtained by the Press Association also show there were nine referrals in 2022 of children aged 12 or under which had no overseas element, with the potential or actual forced marriage taking place entirely within the UK.
The Home Office did not give data for the other years, as there were between zero and five cases in each age group, meaning there was the risk of individuals being identified.
The department also declined to provide the age of the youngest person referred to the unit in the last five calendar years, saying this could potentially lead them to be identified and that disclosure “could potentially deter others coming forward”.
Separate data published by the Home Office in April covering all age groups showed the number of cases with no overseas element has risen in recent years.
Some 58 cases (14% of the total) had no overseas element in 2025, up from 15 cases (6%) in 2024 and 10 cases in 2023 (4%) – which the Home Office said “continues to highlight that forced marriages can and do take place in the UK”.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “There is nothing more important than the safety of our children.
“Our strengthened keeping children safe in education guidance provides staff with robust information to help identify different types of abuse and harm – including abusive behaviour such as forced marriage – and clearly sets out what all school staff should know and do, and how to respond to any concerns about a child.
“Our new RSHE (relationships, sex and health education) curriculum will also teach pupils from this September about positive relationships, staying safe, recognising and reporting risks and abuse – with different forms of abuse addressed sensitively and clearly at appropriate ages.”