The Home Office is expected to sign off on plans to include mother’s details on marriage certificates following a successful campaign led by Meriden MP, Dame Caroline Spelman.
Currently, the official documents only record the names and occupations of the fathers of the bride and groom - a practice which has remained unchanged since it was first introduced in 1837.
Now details of the couple’s mothers look set to be included too as part of the modernisation of the marriage register which will see the creation of a digital records system.
Previous proposals failed to go through over concerns that they would have to replace tens of thousands of register books across the country. However, it is forecast that a new digital record, known as the ‘Schedule System’ will make the process of marriage less vulnerable to fraud and will save the tax payer £30 million in costs over a 10 year period.
A Home Office source said the proposal had been 'signed off', and a spokeswoman confirmed that it wanted to include mothers' details - they will also appear on civil partnership certificates.
Dame Caroline said, “Having fought a long-standing campaign in Parliament to bring about this change, I am delighted that the Home Office has indicated that it will support my Marriage Registration (No.2) Bill to change the way marriages are recorded in England and Wales and to include the names and occupations of mothers on marriage certificates for the first time.
“The introduction of a new, digital system of marriage entry will not only save money by moving us from a system of over 84,000 individual marriage registers into a single, more secure system, but will right a historic wrong - something which has been called for by over 70,000 petitioners in recent years”.