A forced marriage is one in which a person uses violence, threats or another form of coercion to cause someone else to enter into a marriage and believes (or ought reasonably to believe) that their actions may cause that other person to enter into the marriage without free and full consent.

Coercion may include emotional pressure, physical force (or the threat of it), and financial pressure. It is a criminal offence to force someone into a marriage or to deceive them into travelling overseas for this purpose.

The FMU is a joint Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) unit. It was established in 2005 to lead on the Government’s forced marriage outreach and casework and support with forced marriage policy. The unit operates both inside the UK, where support is provided to any individual, and overseas, where consular assistance is provided to British nationals, including dual nationals. The unit also leads on consular casework relating to British national victims of FGM who are overseas.

This publication provides information on the number of cases reported to the FMU via its public helpline and email inbox from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023, where advice and support have been provided.