The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 and The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 2022: equality impact assessment

Marriage & Civil Partnership^[3]

Background

During the pandemic there has been a reduction in the number of new marriages and civil partnerships: there were 5,545 marriages registered in Scotland between 1 April and 30 June 2021, 30% lower than the average number on a second quarter over the five years 2015-19, but a large increase on the number of marriages in the same period in 2020 following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions.^[138] This was mainly as Registration Offices were closed from mid-March and most marriages scheduled after the closure could not take place. From June 2020 onwards marriages and civil partnerships were resumed but with very strict limits on the number of attendees.

In 2020, over 264,000 weddings were postponed in the UK.^[139] UK polling data gives us further indications of the extent to which couples who wanted to get married or registered as a civil partnership have been impacted by the pandemic. A poll of more than 400 couples with weddings planned between September 2020 and January 2021 revealed that, while 95% are not planning to cancel their wedding, 71% were choosing to postpone to later in the year or into 2022.^[140] This is corroborated by a survey of 1,449 people who had planned to marry during the first lockdown in summer 2020 in England and Wales: 625 (43%) of respondents had been unable to marry on their intended wedding date, with the majority of them having to postpone their plans.^[141]

YouGov polling data from June 2021, which covered more than 3,200 adults in Great Britain, reveals that 91% of respondents have not attended a wedding in the last year or so, under Covid-19 restrictions. Of the very small number of respondents who have (6%), half of them (3%) said that the experience had not been as good as it could have been without Covid-19 restrictions.^[142]

Differential impacts

Positive impacts

There is an exception for funerals, marriage ceremonies or civil partnerships and related post ceremony gatherings from the requirement in Covid Status Certification.

Negative impacts

If partners or spouses have differing Covid Status Certification status then this could potentially have negative impacts if one person is not able to enter a setting in scope while the other is. The inclusion of testing will act as a mitigation against this. A partner or spouse may also choose not to be tested, although this is unlikely.