Weddings and civil partnerships have been suspended since 23 March, due to coronavirus. Latest Government guidance states that ceremonies can restart with limited attendees and safety measures in place.

From 21 July, weddings and civil partnerships will restart in East Sussex register offices, licensed venues and places of worship (that need a registrar present).

The registration service team are contacting couples who have weddings or civil partnerships booked in chronological order. Couples are being given the option to keep their current date or postpone their ceremony, without incurring charges. Couples may book Notice of marriage appointments, Notice of civil partnership appointments and new ceremonies for 2020 (subject to availability of dates and venues) from 21 July.   

For the time being all ceremonies will be subject to current Government guidance, which includes limiting attendees to a maximum of 30 people. This is subject to maintaining 2 metres social distancing between the registrars, the couple and their guests, so in many cases this will be restricted to a lower number of attendees. Full details of guidance is available here: Guidance for small marriages and civil partnerships

A reminder that five of our libraries have reopened today. The libraries at Battle, Hastings, Eastbourne, Newhaven and Crowborough have been chosen based on their size, layout and staffing availability, and to ensure there is one in each district and borough area.

We are not able to offer a full library service due to the need for social distancing. We will be encouraging people to continue to use our eLibrary where they can so that we can manage customer numbers safely. 

We are limiting the number of customers in each library at any one time, social distancing will be in place, and there’ll be no seating, study spaces, toilets or events. We will ask visitors for their name and phone number at the time they go into the library.  This information may be shared with the NHS test and trace programme if needed.

We will increase cleaning, distance furniture and computers, add hygiene screens and quarantine books between uses. Libraries will close 30-60 minutes earlier than usual each day to allow staff to restock.

45-minute computer sessions will be available and a click-and-collect service will let customers pick up books ordered online or via phone. Browsing will be very limited, and DVDs, newspapers and periodicals will be removed. Anything borrowed can be kept until 30 September without any fines.

We will need to see how well these five libraries operate to ensure customers and staff are safe, and how many more staff this takes, before we can take a decision on opening more libraries later in the summer and in early autumn. We will keep you updated.