Report of a meeting between SICA and National Records of Scotland (NRS) held on Wednesday 6 May 2026
by Michael Hannah, SICA Member
Well, it has taken a long, long time and a lot of chasing has been involved. But at last we had our meeting with NRS regarding the issue of “independent” celebrants. We had tried emailing, we called and left messages, we even wrote a letter! I can’t pretend it wasn’t a hugely frustrating experience, especially given that we really only needed a couple of questions answered.
But we eventually managed to secure a meeting by video and that took place this morning (6 May). We were glad to actually speak to someone, not least because I had feared that if they simply replied by email, we might not get the clarity or detail that we really needed about this.
In the end Stella, Diane and I met with Christy Weir, Team Leader of the Combined Registration Services at NRS. We’d already sent a fairly comprehensive preamble setting out the historical reasons for the inclusion of the word “independent” in our name and definition. We also noted the changing landscape that has seen many more celebrants conducting weddings and so having to be members of belief groups alongside their SICA membership.
And we noted that we already knew that the NRS does not allow celebrants who are authorised to conduct weddings via membership of a belief group to describe themselves as “independent”.
Christy’s opening remarks seemed to underline this and initially I thought that we were going to be told that membership of SICA (as it currently stands) was seen as incompatible with being a celebrant registered to conduct legal marriages But this was where things started to be more interesting and positive. “Yes”, she said, “NRS doesn’t allow a wedding celebrant to advertise themselves as an ‘independent’ celebrant.” What’s more she confirmed that NRS were looking at the websites and printed materials and social media of wedding celebrants and were contacting those who did use the word “independent” and asking them to change this (some of you may have had such a letter).
But she went on to say that they did not see membership of SICA as a problem! This was a key outcome of the meeting.
They accepted our point that SICA is a professional body, quite distinct from a belief body, and that membership can stand alongside membership of a belief body. Thus being a member of SICA, although implicitly suggesting that the celebrant is “independent”, is not a barrier to being a NRS authorised celebrant qualified to conduct legal marriages. Celebrants can state that they are members of SICA and use the SICA logo on websites, email signatures, and social media…. provided that they make it clear that when conducting legal marriages, they do this under the aegis of their belief body. This may mean a bit of tweaking to members’ own websites etc, just to ensure there is clarity on this (eg having a separate web page for weddings and funerals…. which most members probably do anyway).
We then probed a little more. What about the SICA website and the searchable profiles that we all have? Again, they stated categorically that there was no problem with a celebrant having a SICA profile that states that they do legal marriages, again provided that it was clear that the legal authority stemmed from their membership of a belief group and not from SICA membership or as an independent celebrant. We explained that we had already made this mandatory on profiles and that we would continue to look at how to make this clearer. They were happy with that and with the fact that this is a database searchable by “legal marriages”.
I confess I was a little surprised at their response. I had foreseen the need to ague our case or explore whether changing our name might be necessary. It seems not – we can continue as we are, we just need to be careful with wording around legal marriages…. something we have always been aware of. I suspect that, frustrating though it was, the fact that we had already in effect made our case in all the emails and letters over the last few months must have led to discussion within NRS so that when we finally spoke to them, they had already considered the situation enabling them to respond so clearly and positively in the meeting..
What happens now? Diane, Stella and I are preparing a minute of our meeting for NRS to approve and for them to prepare a policy statement – just a few lines that confirms their position, sets all this out, and which we can share with our members and use on our website etc.
I wish it hadn’t been so drawn out, but even though it suggests to me that we needn’t make any changes to the name, the consultation has been a positive process. We have examined what we think SICA should be in a changing world and especially the values that we stand for. Plus we have established ourselves as a credible and constructive voice with the NRS, something that may enable us in the future to contribute to shaping national policy around issues of legislation and regulation.
