Citizenship Ceremony

[kp1]

Are local authorities/Councils obliged to provide private ceremonies, or is it something they do out of goodwill? When I called my council to arrange and cermony i was give a date 40 days away, so I queried about a private one, and was rudely told, we dont do private ceremonies.

Do i have no choice then or do i have to have a very valid reason for wanting a private ceremonies?

Also am i right in assuming that councils can charge 'what they want' for a private ceremony and there is no legislation on the limit to what they can charge?

[John]

kp1, it is clear that charges for a private ceremony vary very considerably, so it looks like they can indeed set their own charge level.

If I were you I would contact a Local Councillor, on the Council that arranges citizenship ceremonies in your area. See what they have to say about this lack of service. They might be about to apply pressure to get you the private ceremony you seek.

Generally speaking ceremonies are a lot more frequent in large cities/towns compared to more rural areas. Here in Birmingham ceremonies are held on two days per month, with at least two separate ceremonies on those days with scope to go up to four ceremonies per day as and when required.

kp1, do you live in a rural area?

[kp1]

Nope, Nottingham is clearly not rural, they only offer one cermony a month and another, oncea month in town of mansfield.

[John]

A quick look at this website suggests that it is Nottinghamshire County Council that is responsible for ceremonies in your area (seeing as you mention Mansfield as well). So I suggest that you use this webpage and then make contact with your local County Councillor about this lack of service.

None of that would apply, I think, if you pay your Council Tax to Nottingham City Council, but am I right in thinking that you are outside the city boundary?

Even if it does not end up working for you it might improve the service that others get in the future.

[kp1]

John,

Thanks for that, I had already looked at both link before posting and had already identified my local conciller. Notts CC is the local authority for my area. I spoke to a different person this afternoon, who said no again,( who only referred my question to his colleague , who i had spoken to a few days ago.. the guy did not put his phone on mute). From what i heard, it sounded like, they did not want to help much. and his reply( from his colleague) was, we offer one ceremony a month already, why do you want a private one?

Its a shame they were so unhelpful and all i was doing was enquiring to see if i can affor to pay for one!!!!!

Councillor avenue still the only option? I mean how much can he do.? what powers does he hold?.. i looked up the councillors details and he is based in the same council building as the registrain officer/s i have spoken to.

KP

[John]

Councillor avenue still the only option? I mean how much can he do.? what powers does he hold?

It will do no harm at all contacting the County Councillor. What can he/she do? I suppose it depends upon what position they hold on the Council but at the very least they can start asking questions, well, that the Officers you have been talking to would rather not be asked. After all, and the end of the day, the Council is controlled by the Councillors and the Officers are mere servants .... although they often do not think too highly when that is pointed out to them.

In a County Council area such as Nottinghamshire .... which is mostly rural in nature (given that it excludes the Nottingham City Council area) ... maybe one ceremony per month is enough based upon the numbers coming forward. However the total refusal to offer a private ceremony is unacceptable and I think that is the angle you should take with the County Councillor. After all, no one is suggesting that a private ceremony would be free. It is not as if laying on a private ceremony would end up costing them any money.

[kp1]

I agree with what you say, but I assume going through the councillor would just wind up the reg. officers more especially when that approach will be slightly defensive.

I fear that if they ever agree to a private ceremony (which they will be p*ssed off about) they wil charge me anextortionate amount to put me off from going private or to 'have a final say' on the matter.

[vin123]

I fear that if they ever agree to a private ceremony (which they will be p*ssed off about) they wil charge me anextortionate amount to put me off from going private or to 'have a final say' on the matter.

When I called my council to arrange and cermony i was give a date 40 days away, so I queried about a private one, and was rudely told, we dont do private ceremonies.

kp1

Sometimes ignorance on this subject could have made the staff to say incorrect or misleading info to you.
All you need to do is, send a letter to the concerned office in the council requesting them details for arranging a private ceremony (mainly available dates, venue, cost etc). Let them do some real work for you here( of course your tax contribution fund their salaries...so just go for it ).
You don't need to worry about they getting pissed off because you asked for a private function earlier through the phone. It doesn't work that way.
When you get the reply back, if you don’t agree with their cost, politely write back to them asking about their cost info also give comparative figures if you know someone who did similar, and proceed accordingly.