How To Get a Gender Recognition Certificate
Gender Recognition Certificates do a few things, including:
Getting you a new birth certificate in your new name and gender
Allowing you to get married in your new name and gender
Allowing you to die in your new name or gender
Allowing you to go the prison that matches your new gender
Allowing you to get your pension at a certain age depending on which gender you are, although you can tell HMRC about a change to your gender by writing to them, instead.
A Gender Recognition Certificate is complicated to get, and will require certain documents depending on if you’re:
Single (Standard Route)
Married or in a Civil Partnership (Alternative Route)
Or if your gender has been legally accepted in a different country to the UK (Overseas Route)
I’m going to take you through each application route, linking you to the documents you need for each one. There are different application forms for each route, and different criteria you need to meet, which will change which application form you use to apply for a GRC.
Standard Route
This is the route a lot of young, single trans people take.
You don’t have to be single to go this route, and no matter which route you go, if you’re married or in a civil partnership, things will get a bit more complicated. You might need a few more documents, but you should have some of these already.
Criteria you need to meet:
You’re 18 or over
You’ve been diagnosed with gender dysphoria
You’ve lived in your acquired gender for at least 2 years
You intend to live in your acquired gender for the rest of your life
What you’ll need:
Two medical reports - Medical Report A and Medical Report B – The same form, but one is filled in by a specialist in the field of gender dysphoria, like a gender specialist from your gender clinic (Medical Report A), and the other is filled in by a GP (Medical Report B).
Medical Report A can alternatively be a diagnosis of gender dysphoria letter, which you should already have if you’ve been seen by a GIC. You can also ask your GIC to send you a copy of your diagnosis if you don’t already have one.
Or, if you’re not single:
A statutory declaration for applicants who are married or in a civil partnership and/or a Statutory Declaration for the Spouse or Civil Partner of an applicant for a GRC where appropriate.
Marriage certificate or certified copy where appropriate.
Civil Partnership certificate or certified copy where appropriate.
A copy of your decree(s) dissolving the marriage or civil partnership where appropriate.
If your spouse or civil partner has died a copy of their death certificate where appropriate.
Plus:
An original or a certified copy of your current birth certificate.
Evidence that you have lived in your gender for 2 or more years – More on that later.
I’ll get into more specific details as I take you through screenshots of the Standard Application Form. You can either fill it in online, or print it out, but it’ll have to be printed out anyway to be mailed to the right place.
The Standard Application Route
1. Print out the above hyperlinked forms, especially the guidance, to make sure that you don’t get anything wrong.
2. Fill in the Standard Application Form using the guidance.
Pages that might trip you up: In order of the Standard Application Form
Time Spent Living In Your New Gender
This page asks you to tell them how long you’ve been living in your new gender, which will require evidence, and you’ll want to go as far back as you can to show this.
I used the date my Deed Poll was filled out, as this is typically when you first legally start living in your gender.
Evidence For How Long You’ve Lived In Your New Gender
After this, you’ll need to provide evidence for the amount of time you’ve lived in your legal gender. It has to go as far back as at least two years.
I used:
Deed Poll
A letter from my gender clinic with my gender dysphoria diagnosis.
A letter with my new name and title stating my right to vote in the UK.
All of my IDs with my new name on them photocopied onto a single piece of paper, with the start date to the expiry date written above them.
My NHS Number Registration letter – Given to me by my GP when I sent them my Deed Poll and got a new NHS number.
My Top Surgery letter posted to me after I had my first top surgery consultation.
You’re advised to only use 5 to 6 pieces of evidence, possibly one for every year in your new gender. If you use too many pieces of evidence, your application might not be accepted.
You can basically use anything that has a date, and your new name and title on it.
As well as:
Medical Reports
What you’ll need:
Two medical report forms – They’re the same form, just print out two of them.
A Gender Specialist or a diagnosis letter of gender dysphoria from your GIC in place of Medical Report A. Some GICs aren’t filling in medical reports anymore because of high workloads and backlogs from the pandemic taking up their time.
A GP
Money – It costs around £25 to get your GP to fill in one of these forms, which you give to the front desk when you hand the form in.
Medical Report A: (From the Standard Application Route Document)
The screenshot above is from the Standard Application Route document, and is not the actual medical report. But you’ll need to fill in details related to whoever fills in Medical Report A, including the name of the gender specialist, their professional address, and their phone number.
Medical Report A has to be filled in by a gender specialist. This is typically someone from a gender identity clinic who you’ve been seeing to access hormones and surgery. Both Medical Report A and B are the same document, and look like this:
There are two more pages after that, and two pages at the start which act as guidance for the person filling them out. You’ll want to print off all of these pages and give them to the correct person.
You can ask your gender specialist to fill in Medical Report A, and either send it to them, or they’ll fill it in themselves and send it to you.
Alternatively, a diagnosis letter of gender dysphoria from a GIC can take the place of Medical Report A.
Some gender clinics require you to send them a written letter of confirmation that you know what you’re asking for, which can be formatted like so:
ADDRESS OF GENDER CLINIC
DATE
Dear Lead Clinician,
My name is YOUR NAME, and I have been a patient at NAME OF GENDER CLINIC since YEAR YOUR GENDER CLINIC STARTED SEEING YOU. I am currently being seen by NAME OF CLINICIAN CURRENTLY SEEING YOU.
I am writing to request the medical form needed from a gender specialist as evidence for a Gender Recognition Certificate, so that I can complete my legal transition from OLD GENDER to NEW GENDER.
Thank you for your time.
Yours sincerely,
YOUR NAME
You can change the wording to suit your needs, or not send one of these at all, depending on how your gender clinic operates.
Medical Report B: (From the Standard Application Route Document)
The screenshot above is from the Standard Application Route document, and is not the actual medical report.
But you’ll need it to fill in the details related to whoever fills in Medical Report B, including the name of the person filling in the medical report, their professional address, and their phone number.
Medical Report B will need to be filled in by your GP. It can be printed out and taken in-person to your doctors, who will give it to the practice manager to fill in, and then you’ll be told to collect it at the front desk a few days or weeks later.
It might also be possible to email it to your GP, have them fill it out online, and then send it back to you. But doing it in-person is faster.
Statutory Declaration
What you’ll need:
A Solicitor
Money - £5 to £10 for the solicitor. If someone tries to make you pay more than that, go somewhere else.
The screenshot above is from the Standard Application Route document, and is not the actual statutory declaration.
But you should bring it with you to a solicitor so either you or them can fill in the correct details. This includes the name and address of the solicitor and where the statutory declaration is being filled in, as well as their phone number.
So, yeah, these can be used for name changes. But in this case, you need a statutory declaration to show the GRC panel that you meet the criteria for the route you’ve chosen to use to apply for a GRC.
It confirms some things about you and your current circumstances, and looks like this:
Get it filled in and signed in front of a solicitor, and you should be good to go.
The Checklist
The Standard Route Application form has a checklist towards the end to make sure you haven’t missed anything. It looks like this:
Help With Fees Form
Depending on your personal circumstances, you can get help paying the £5 fee for your GRC application, or even avoid paying it altogether, using form EX160.
You can also use this form to get a refund if you’ve already paid for the cost of an application, but it has to be within months of sending your application form off.
Page one of Form EX160
You have to meet certain requirements to qualify for help with fees.
This includes:
How much you have in savings. If you have more than £16,000, then you aren’t eligible to get help with paying fees.
What benefits you’re on.
If you’re on: Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (not contribution-based JSA), Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (not contribution based ESA), Income Support, Universal Credit (and you’re earning less than £6,000 a year), or Pension Credit (guarantee credit, not savings credit), then you’re likely to be able to get help with fees.
If you have any children, then you’ll need to include the benefits that you’re being paid for them.
If you meet these different requirements, then you might qualify for help with fees.
You should either send this form off with your GRC application by printing it out and filling it in using the guidance, or apply online before you send your GRC application off.
Declarations
The final page of the Standard Route Application form looks like this:
When you sign and date this final page, everything else should already be done.
Our Checklist
When I say ‘done,’ this is what I mean:
You’ll need to have filled in the:
Two medical reports - Medical Report A and Medical Report B – The same form, but one is filled in by a specialist in the field of gender dysphoria, like a gender specialist from your gender clinic (Medical Report A), and the other is filled in by a GP (Medical Report B).
Statutory Declaration Form for single applicants (or one of the other Statutory Declarations)
You’ll need to have:
Your Deed Poll
Your Birth Certificate – The original, or a certified copy.
A Statutory Declaration, which one depends on your circumstances.
Two years or more worth of evidence of having lived in your new gender, up to 5 or 6 documents at most.
Everything will need to have been checked off the checklist in the Standard Application Form.
If you’re married, or in a civil partnership, you’ll need some extra documents, and the consent of your partner to be changing your gender legally, in the form of a Statutory Declaration for the Spouse or Civil Partner of an applicant for Gender Recognition and a Statutory Declaration for Applicants who are married or in a civil partnership. Two new, different forms.
It’s archaic, but for now, that’s the way it is.
Now What?
Send all of this stuff off through the post to the address on the last page of the Standard Route Application form. Then, you wait.
It might take a few weeks or months, but eventually, you get sent a new Gender Recognition Certificate, and a new birth certificate. Plus, any documents you sent being returned to you.
Sometimes you have to send originals of things, but if you can send copies of letters/any evidence you’re asked for, that’s better than those things being lost along the way.
Send everything in a really high-quality envelope just to be safe.
Alternate Route
Criteria you’ll need to meet:
Apply by the alternative route if all the following are true:
You’re 18 or over.
You’ve been diagnosed with gender dysphoria or had surgery to change your sexual characteristics.
You live in England, Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland most of the time.
You intend to live in your acquired gender for the rest of your life.
You’re in (or have been in) a protected marriage or protected civil partnership before 10 December 2014 (16 December 2014 for Scottish marriages and civil partnerships).
You’ve lived in your acquired gender for at least 6 years before 10 December 2014 (16 December 2014 for Scottish marriages and civil partnerships).
A marriage or civil partnership is protected if it’s one of the following:
registered under the law of England, Wales or Northern Ireland.
a marriage solemnised in Scotland.
a civil partnership registered in Scotland.
a marriage registered under the law of a country or territory outside the UK.
a marriage on UK consular premises or in an armed forces base, if you elected England, Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland as the relevant part of the UK.
What you’ll need:
Guidance on filling in the Alternative Application Form
Only one medical report – A medical report that can confirm either that you: have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria or have undergone surgical treatment for the modification of your sexual characteristics. It depends on your personal circumstances as to whether you need a GP or Gender Specialist to fill in this report:
Statutory Declaration for applicants who are married or in a civil partnership where appropriate.
Statutory Declaration for the Spouse or Civil Partner of an applicant for a GRC where appropriate.
Statutory Declaration for single applicants where appropriate.
An original or a certified copy of your current birth certificate.
Deed Poll
Marriage certificate or certified copy.
Civil Partnership certificate or certified copy.
A copy of your decree(s) dissolving the marriage or civil partnership where appropriate.
If your spouse or civil partner has died a copy of their death certificate where appropriate.
Evidence that you have lived in your gender for 6 years before 10 December 2014, or 16 December 2014 if you’re in Scotland.
Yeah, it’s a bit more complicated than the Standard Route, and requires that you have lived in your gender for 6 years instead of 2. Marriages and Civil Partnerships also make it more complicated, but certain parts of the Alternative Route Application form are similar to the Standard Route.
Overseas Route
Criteria you’ll need to meet:
Apply by the overseas route if your acquired gender has been legally accepted in an ‘approved country or territory’ and you have the documents to prove it.
You must be 18 or over.
What you’ll need:
Guidance on filling in the Overseas Application Form
Statutory Declaration for single applicants where appropriate.
Or, if you’re not single:
Statutory Declaration for applicants who are married or in a civil partnership where appropriate.
Statutory Declaration for the Spouse or Civil Partner of an applicant for a GRC where appropriate.
Marriage certificate or certified copy.
Civil Partnership certificate or certified copy.
A copy of your decree(s) dissolving the marriage or civil partnership where appropriate.
If your spouse or civil partner has died a copy of their death certificate where appropriate.
Plus:
An original or a certified copy of your current birth certificate.
Deed Poll
Evidence that you have formally changed gender under the law of a country or territory outside the UK that appears on the Gender Recognition Panel’s list of ‘approved countries or territories’.
So, yeah, that’s also horrible to look at.
I only have experience with the Standard Application Route, but I thought I’d try to get everything together in one place anyway. With the Alternative Route and the Overseas Route, some of my advice from the Standard Route is still useful.
That’s It?
Well, not quite.
After applying for a GIC, there’s a bit of a wait before you get the email saying whether you’ve been granted a GRC or not. Once you have that email, you’ll eventually get a bundle of letters through the post.
You’ll get:
Your new GRC
A letter titled ‘Notes on what to do next’
A letter on DBS checks
A letter on Benefits and Pensions
You'll also need to wait potentially up to four months for them to get back to you about a new birth certificate. There's a number to call and an email address if you're having problems with that.
Here’s what each of the letters say: (I’m paraphrasing - they’re really long letters!)
The 'Notes on what to do next' letter has 9 different sections:
Introduction - This says that you're entitled to the same rights as your acquired gender. If you were born in the UK, you can get a new birth certificate in your acquired gender.
Birth certificates - What I said above. It also says that there's a separate Gender Recognition Register for recording new names of trans people for new birth certificates. The idea of being on a separate record is a little bit unsettling, but it’s something you should know about.
Marriage or Civil Partnership - You can get married in your new gender.
Children - Legal recognition of your new gender doesn't impact your status as father or mother of your children.
Notifying HM Revenue & Customs and DWP/DSD - You should have ticked in your GRC application whether you wanted the Panel to tell these places about your new gender, or if you want to do it yourself. If you decided to do it yourself, it gives you information on how to tell the relevant authorities. Your new legal gender might impact how much tax you need to pay. You'll get a confirmation letter from HMRC about your change of gender. This letter takes quite a while to arrive, in my experience.
Privacy - Any info about your gender is called 'protected information.' Anyone telling any third party about this information without your consent would be breaking the law. Unless you’ve committed a crime and your potential employer needs to know about it, if it’s relevant to the job you’re applying for.
Discrimination - Discriminated against you based on your gender identity is illegal, and once you have a GRC, you have the same rights as anybody else in your acquired gender.
Other people to tell about your acquired gender - Your GP. Employers. Insurers. Academic institutions if you want new certificates in your new gender. DVLA if that isn't already updated. HM Passport Office if you want a new passport. Financial Institutions.
Further Information - Some people want to show the link between their current name and gender and the info in their GRC. Write to the GRC Panel who will give you a letter on official headed paper if you want to demonstrate this link.
That's everything from the ‘Notes’ section. Now onto DBS Checks.
Disclosure and Barring Service Checks for trans people
This letter basically says, there are two types of DBS checks. Enhanced and Standard. DBS checks are for anyone working with vulnerable people.
Both show your criminal record. An Enhanced one also shows non-convictions and if you're barred from working with vulnerable groups.
The one for trans people is called a Sensitive Applications Process. This means you only tell DBS your previous names or gender. However, it also means you’ll have to out yourself on the DBS form, which your employer might potentially see.
If you're asked for a DBS check for a job and have a GRC, contact the Sensitive Application's Team. This means that your previous name and gender won't be shown on your DBS certificate without your consent.
DBS will track your application and check what's on your DBS certificate before it's issued.
You can have any criminal convictions transferred onto your new name.
There's info at the bottom of this letter to contact the DBS's Sensitive Application's Team, including a phone number, email address, and physical address.
Benefits and Pensions
This letter is a whole 20 pages long.
It starts by saying that when applying for a GRC, it's recommended to ask them to tell HMRC for you if you do get a full GRC.
They'll update your NI and tax records. DWP will also update their records.
You can choose to tell them yourself, but that would be more complicated for you and require more effort on your part.
HMRC makes sure that your NI contributions will now be based on your new/acquired gender.
They also update your NI records with your new personal details, and restrict access to those records. They'll send a letter to you to say that they've done this., but, as always, it might take some time for this letter to reach you.
DWP also looks at what benefits or pensions you're currently getting, and they will let you know if those have to change because of your GRC. They add the same access restrictions that HMRC do to your personal details.
Tax and NI contributions
Trans women only pay NI contributions up to female state pension age. Trans men pay from after they get a GRC and until they reach state pension age in their acquired gender.
Marriage provisions mean you don't necessarily need to end your marriage to get a full GRC. The same for a civil partnership, but only if it was registered in England or Wales and both people want a GRC.
If you do end your marriage/civil partnership, it could impact the amount of Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax, and Inheritance Tax that you pay.
A full GRC has no impact on tax for single people.
Pensions and other social security benefits
These could change depending on your acquired gender.
If you're suddenly eligible for something you weren't before, claim it as soon as you can. It won't automatically be paid to you just because you're now entitled.
If DWP overpay you for something, you'll potentially have to pay it back.
A full GRC could impact a pension payable to your spouse or civil partner, if it's based on your earnings or NI contributions.
The letter lists phone numbers, an address, and an email address of who to contact if you need advice about State Pension. These details are for the DWP Gender Recognition Team.
State Pension Age
State Pension Age is basically the earliest age your legally allowed to access your state pension.
You can claim it when you reach the age that's appropriate for your acquired gender.
There's a table in the letter with different dates of birth and the state pension age related to them. Some of them are for women or men only.
The New State Pension
This only applies to people reaching the State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016.
This bit isn't as related to gender and essentially talks about what people qualify for based on NI contributions. It talks about the old state pension and examples of when your state pension could be impacted in general.
There's a section after this about state pensions for a spouse or civil partner.
For fear of this getting any longer, I'll now just list the different subheadings that come after the above sections:
Occupational Pension Schemes
Couples Living Together
Bereavement Benefits
War Pensions
Information for Isle of Man residents
FAQ about Pensions
So, that’s what happens after you get a GRC. It’s lengthy, and complicated, and sometimes incredibly stressful if things don’t happen the way you expect them to. I personally had a very positive experience with the GRC Panel themselves, and I don’t blame them for how messy and bureaucratic this whole process is.
They’re just the messengers, after all. They do what they’re allowed to do under the current laws and guidelines set out for them. Those are the things that need to be changed.
But you’re now legally recognized as the right gender. That’s what you worked so hard for, and that’s what matters the most.
