Requirements for authorisation

May 15, 2023

Requirements for Authorisation

These requirements apply at the point of nomination and for as long as you remain on any of the Scottish registers.

They are set out in full in the MSR Governance Framework: Scotland, section 9.

Register of OneSpirit Interfaith Ministers (ROSIM) membership: all applicants must be current members of ROSIM, in good standing. ROSIM is the only way a minister can be in formal, accountable relationship with OneSpirit, and it is the foundation on which every nomination rests. A lapse in ROSIM membership is grounds for removal from the registers.

Insurance: all applicants must hold current professional indemnity and public liability insurance and maintain it for as long as they are on the registers. OneSpirit’s block scheme with Balens is available to ROSIM members, though you may use any reputable provider.

Residency: ministers nominated for registered status (section 9) must be resident in Scotland; NRS will not register a celebrant who is not. Temporary authorisation carries no residency requirement. A OneSpirit minister living elsewhere in the UK, in Ireland or abroad may be supported for temporary authorisation for a specified ceremony in Scotland, provided they meet every other requirement on this list, including the training and the CPD. OneSpirit’s policy is to support ministers who are not resident in Scotland one ceremony at a time: our letters of support are for the specified ceremony only, and each further ceremony needs a fresh request to OneSpirit and fresh letters. Please do not apply directly to NRS for a later ceremony, even though NRS holds your details from the first. OneSpirit keeps discretion over how often it will support a minister who is not resident in Scotland. It is your responsibility to tell us promptly of any change in your residency.

Age: all applicants must be at least 21.

Supervision: all applicants must be in regular supervision relevant to their ministerial practice. (This is also a requirement of ROSIM membership.)

Training: all applicants must complete both parts of this training, the online module and the in-person autumn workshop, before OneSpirit will nominate them.

Required reading: as a condition of nomination, you will confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by the MSR Governance Framework: Scotland, its Annex A (Legal Wording in Wedding Ceremonies – Scotland), and the OneSpirit Code of Ethics. This confirmation is renewed at each re-nomination.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD): if your nomination is accepted by NRS, you must attend one of OneSpirit’s in-person CPD workshops on legal weddings in Scotland at least once every two years. Either the autumn or the spring workshop meets the requirement. This counts towards the CPD requirement of ROSIM membership and gives you an opportunity to share experience and learning with others. A lapse of more than two years is grounds for removal from the registers; see Gateway Five, section 4.

Shadowing: all applicants must have arrangements in place to shadow an experienced OneSpirit minister conducting a legal wedding or civil partnership before their own first ceremony; this will normally be a minister holding registered celebrant status. If you have difficulty arranging this, or need to hold a ceremony before shadowing has been possible, tell the nominators and we will work with you to make sure you have the support you need.

Websites, social media profiles and other promotional materials: on application you will be asked to confirm that all profiling of your ministry, including websites and social media, is in keeping with the strict requirement that you are not solemnising marriage as a business for profit or gain. See the guidance below, and sections 11 and 12 of the framework.

Box: Until you are authorised. A minister who is not yet authorised must not present themselves online or in print as able to conduct legal weddings or civil partnerships in Scotland. Until NRS has granted your authorisation, the word “wedding” on your website or social media should be prefixed with “non-legal” (for example, “non-legal wedding ceremonies”), and you should not say that you are awaiting or expecting authorisation. NRS actively reviews ministers’ online presences, and overstatement can affect your own future authorisation and OneSpirit’s standing as a nominating body.

Changes in circumstance: once authorised, you have a continuing duty to tell the nominators of any change that may affect your eligibility to remain on the registers: residency, ROSIM membership, insurance, criminal record, or any other material matter. OneSpirit must in turn notify NRS within 21 days.

Annual review: each March OneSpirit reviews every minister on the Scottish registers, on temporary authorisation and registered status alike: current insurance (you will be asked for a copy of your certificate), ROSIM standing, and when you last attended a CPD workshop. You will also be asked how many ceremonies you have held in the year, legal and non-legal. The purpose is to notice early where a conversation is needed, before anything lapses.

‘Carrying on a marriage business for profit or gain’

What constitutes ‘for profit’ is a thorny question, as the legislation does not specify what patterns of activity or what types and levels of charges would amount to carrying on a business of solemnising marriages for profit or gain.

The Registrar General’s policy is that charging an appropriate fee for conducting a wedding ceremony is acceptable where the fee simply enables you, as a minister, to continue to enact your philosophical beliefs. A celebrant will be considered to be carrying on a business for profit or gain when the interests of enacting, celebrating and promoting those beliefs are subordinated to commercial interests: for instance, reliable evidence that a celebrant was pursuing business interests rather than promoting their philosophical beliefs through service to a couple who shared them and had asked for a ceremony that reflected them.

NRS recognises that this involves judgement, and that a minister’s motivation must be inferred from the available evidence, such as:

websites, fliers, content on social media channels, other promotional materials and indications of business activity
any denigration of civil marriage, registrars, other religious or belief bodies or their celebrants as a means of advancing business
the level of income generated from solemnising marriage and associated services, as opposed to other activity undertaken to uphold the body’s philosophical beliefs
the number of marriages solemnised beyond what might be considered reasonable
any services ancillary to the marriage ceremony provided by the celebrant, by any associate of the celebrant, or by any associated supplier in which the celebrant has an interest.

OneSpirit’s guidance is that ministers should present wedding work within the wider spectrum of their ministry: the other services you offer, the spiritual dimension you bring, and the philosophical foundations that underpin your practice. If your website, social media channels or other promotional materials refer only to weddings, NRS may consider that you are running a wedding celebrant business for profit and revoke your authorisation. This could have consequences for other OneSpirit ministers on the registers and for OneSpirit as the nominating body.

There may be occasions when you produce a web page or leaflet specifically aimed at couples seeking a minister to solemnise their wedding. NRS’s guidance on this is:

‘As long as a marriage leaflet or web page leads with the philosophical beliefs of the organisation or body the celebrant is authorised to conduct marriage under then we do not have issue with a standalone marriage leaflet or web page for celebrants to focus on for those looking for a marriage celebrant. We strongly advise against celebrants stating they are independent as authorised marriage celebrants in Scotland cannot be independent and are always nominated by the religious or belief body they represent.’

Two further points from the framework. First, the question is not the size of a reasonable fee but the shape and posture of the practice within which it is set: the framework’s section 11 sets out a two-part test and worked examples, and is required reading. Second, the ‘independent’ point is about how you describe your authorised work, not about professional membership: you may belong to a professional body such as the Scottish Independent Celebrants’ Association and say so, provided your materials make clear that when you conduct legal ceremonies you do so under OneSpirit’s nomination.

If you are ever uncertain whether a piece of wording, an image or a page is compatible with these requirements, ask the nominators first. Most questions can be resolved quickly and informally.

Online Legal Weddings Training: Scotland

Gateway One: Introduction

Participants 16