Campaigners had long said victims should not have to pay Foreign Office for their freedom

The Foreign Office has bowed to public outrage and dropped its requirement for victims of forced marriage to pay sometimes crippling fees to cover the cost of their repatriation.

The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, made the pledge to the chair of the foreign affairs select committee, Tom Tugendhat, after charities complained the fees were causing victims to take out big loans. Tugendhat had raised the issue directly with Hunt in a letter on 2 January after the practice was exposed by the Times.

In 2016 the Guardian and the Muslim Women’s Network UK highlighted the practice of requiring victims of forced marriage to pay repatriation costs, highlighting the case of a 17-year-old British girl who arrived at the UK embassy in Islamabad in 2014 seeking help to escape a forced marriage.

The Foreign Office later announced it would amend its repatriation policy so that British 16- and 17-year-olds who got into difficulty abroad would no longer have to reimburse the government the costs of their journey home. The policy remained in place for people aged 18 and over.

In his letter, Tugendhat had warned the practice meant “victims may be forced to pay for their own rescue or, worse, may be dissuaded from asking for help if they have not got the funds”.

On Wednesday Hunt said in reply: “I have decided the victims of forced marriage who are helped to return to the UK by the Foreign Office forced marriage repatriation unit will no longer be asked to take out a loan for their repatriation costs.”

He said the forced marriage unit was set up in 2005 on the basis that victims constituted a category of exceptionally vulnerable people in need of specific help.

“From now none of those who are assisted by the forced marriage unit will have to cover the costs of their repatriation,” Hunt said. “Where possible, the government will continue to seek to ensure the costs fall on the perpetrators by means of the forced marriage protection orders.” The perpetrators are normally family members.

He claimed the number of people that had been subject to a requirement to pay their costs was relatively small. In 2016-17 the Foreign Office helped 82 individuals to return to the UK, but the vast majority had their costs of repatriation met by others. Only a small minority – between eight and 12 - had accessed Foreign Office loans, the department said.

Hunt said the government would ensure that victims with outstanding loans would find no further cost fell to them – a formulation designed to ensure that previous payments are not refunded. Any passports blocked pending the payment of an outstanding loan would be released, he said.

Campaigners had said forced marriage was a form of slavery and victims should not be charged to regain their freedom.

Hunt said he wished to protect the principle that adult Britons who receive consular assistance will in general pay for their own travel home, but added: “Victims of forced marriage may have endured particular suffering. They will often have travelled abroad against their wishes or under false pretences.”

He said the treatment of vulnerable Britons should always be guided by compassion, adding he was glad to make the policy change.