PAYE103061 - Individual records: maintain individual details: converting a civil partnership to a marriage – Action Guide

The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 which received Royal Assent on 17 July 2013 enabled couples of the same sex in England and Wales to marry from 29 March 2014.

On 10 December 2014 the Act will also enable couples currently in a civil partnership to convert to a marriage.

Where you receive a telephone call or letter from an individual requesting to convert their current status from a civil partnership to a marriage you need to follow:

Telephone call
Letter
Digitalisation of White Mail (DOWM)

Telephone call

Check the Marriage and Civil Partnership Summary screen on NPS which can be accessed through Individuals, Marriage / CP and take the following action:-

  • Where there are no marriage or civil partnership details held on the customer’s record - update the record with the marriage details and advise the customer you have updated their record.
  • Where civil partnership details are held on the individual’s record -  complete ‘Convert CP to a Marriage’ form and submit to the National Insurance Account Correction Team (NI-ACT) to  update the customer’s record, advising the customer of the action taken.

The ‘Convert CP to a Marriage’ form is held in SEES and can be obtained through

Excel-SEES-xlm-Forms-click on the National Tab-PTCPP ‘Convert CP to a Marriage’.

The form will automatically create an email that can be sent directly to the National Insurance Account Correction Team (NI-ACT) who are responsible for updating the computer records for all customers converting their civil partnership to a marriage.

Note: Although the form asks for information about both customers, we will only use the information to update the records of the customer who is calling. We cannot update their spouse’s record due to the Data Security rules we have in place. You should advise the customer that their spouse will also need to contact HMRC to update their record. 

Letter

If you receive a letter requesting a civil partnership to be converted to a marriage please send the letter to the following address:

National Insurance Account Correction Team (NI-ACT)
Lindisfarne House
Benton Park View
Longbenton
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE98 1ZZ

Digitalisation of White Mail (DOWM)

  • If you have a DOWM queue and receive a scanned letter advising of a marriage and there are no marriage or civil partnership details held on the customer’s record update the record with the marriage details.
  • If you have a DOWM queue and receive a scanned letter requesting a civil partnership to be converted to a marriage, you should re-categorise the scanned letter to: NICEO-AIS-SPD.