What is a Gender Recognition Certificate?#
It is the document that makes your affirmed gender your legal gender in the UK. GOV.UK says affirmed gender; the Gender Recognition Act 2004 says acquired gender. Section 9 of the Act says that once a full certificate is issued, your gender becomes "for all purposes the acquired gender", subject to anything other legislation provides. The Gender Recognition Panel, whose members GOV.UK describes as people with legal or medical qualifications, decides each application.
GOV.UK lists four things a certificate lets you do:
- update your birth or adoption certificate, if it was registered in the UK;
- marry or form a civil partnership in your affirmed gender;
- update your marriage or civil partnership certificate, if it was registered in the UK;
- have your affirmed gender on your death certificate.
It does not change your legal status as a child's father or mother, and you do not need one to update your driving licence, passport, medical records, employment records or bank account. It can recognise you as male or female only: GOV.UK says non-binary genders are not legally recognised in the UK. Non-binary name change: your name, title and records sets out what each record can show. Deed poll or Gender Recognition Certificate? sets the two documents side by side.
Who can apply?#
Anyone aged 18 or over, on one of three routes. Section 1 of the Act sets the age, so nobody younger can apply on any of them.
| Route | Who it is for | What you must show |
|---|---|---|
| Main route | Most applicants | A diagnosis of gender dysphoria made in the UK, at least 2 years living in your affirmed gender, and that you intend to live in it for the rest of your life |
| Overseas route | People whose gender is already legally recognised in a country or territory on the UK's approved list | A document from that country, such as an equivalent certificate, an updated birth certificate, a court order or a register entry; no medical reports |
| Alternative route | People who were married or in a civil partnership in 2014, including those with no diagnosis | Living in the UK; gender affirmation surgery or a diagnosis; a marriage or civil partnership on the date that applied where you lived; at least 6 years in your affirmed gender before it |
Surgery is not required on the main route: GOV.UK says you can apply even if you have had no gender affirming surgery or treatment and plan none. The alternative route's dates are 10 December 2014 in England and Wales, 15 December 2014 in Scotland and 13 January 2014 in Northern Ireland, and GOV.UK calls it a different process: you email the panel's admin team, at GRPenquiries@justice.gov.uk, to find out how to apply.
Why change your name before you apply?#
Because the certificate fixes it. GOV.UK's guide says: "You cannot update the name on your certificate after it's been issued." The panel uses the name on your statutory declaration, where GOV.UK's guidance tells you to give your full name, middle names included, because it "will appear on your Gender Recognition Certificate". So if you want a new name on the certificate, change it first.
Changing your name later does not invalidate the certificate, but the two documents then disagree. HM Passport Office's guidance for its staff (version 29.0) tells examiners not to ask a certificate holder for evidence of a change of name unless they apply in a name different from the one on the certificate or the new birth certificate. Apply in the matching name and no separate evidence of the change is asked for; apply in another and you need your deed poll and proof that you use the name.
Deed polls count as evidence. GOV.UK asks applicants who changed their name to reflect their affirmed gender for copies of every document showing when, naming "enrolled or unenrolled deed polls and statutory declarations". The copies need no certifying, and an unenrolled deed poll counts exactly as an enrolled one does.
An early deed poll helps with the 2 years of evidence as well, because each item has to show a name, title or gender marker that matches your affirmed gender, and post in your new name meets that test.
What documents do you need?#
GOV.UK says copies are usually enough, but keep the originals in case the panel asks for them. Every applicant sends a statutory declaration, copies of any change of name documents, and their full birth or adoption certificate: you need an original or certified copy, and after applying you email a photo or scan of it, or post a photocopy if you cannot.
The main route adds two medical reports and evidence of the last 2 years; the overseas route adds the document from the approved country instead. If you have ever been married or in a civil partnership, you include every marriage or civil partnership certificate, and for each that has ended, the decree absolute or final order, or your partner's death certificate. Anything not in English needs a translation, which GOV.UK says a friend or relative can make and sign, sent with the original.
What medical reports do you need?#
Two, on the main route, from either two different doctors registered in the UK or a doctor and a clinical psychologist, both registered in the UK. GOV.UK says a nurse practitioner cannot write either one.
- The first report confirms your diagnosis of gender dysphoria: who made it, when, and on what evidence. Its author must practise in the field of gender dysphoria. GOV.UK keeps a list of such practitioners, last updated on 11 November 2026, and says it is incomplete; someone not on it adds a short summary of their experience.
- The second report can come from any registered doctor or clinical psychologist, including your GP, a surgeon or an endocrinologist, and has no set content.
- Treatment. At least one report describes any gender affirmation treatment you have had or plan, such as hormone therapy or surgery, or explains why there is none.
Each report gives its writer's name, practice address and contact details. Reports already in your medical records can be used if they meet the rules, and GOV.UK publishes a form practitioners can write on. For new reports, GOV.UK warns that you will probably pay, even when the practitioners are NHS ones.
What counts as evidence of living in your affirmed gender?#
Copies of everyday documents. GOV.UK says each should show at least one of a name, a title such as Mr or Miss, or a gender marker that matches your affirmed gender, and suggests roughly one item for every 3 months of the 2 years, at least one from the last 2 or 3 months, from a mix of sources.
Its examples include a driving licence or passport; workplace, student and library cards, railcards and loyalty cards; letters from solicitors, accountants, doctors, dentists or employers; bank statements, payslips, P60s and P45s; benefit letters and tax documents, council tax included; credit reports; electoral register confirmations; student loan statements; utility bills; rental agreements; and academic certificates. Evidence can predate your diagnosis. Your declaration gives the month and year you transitioned, and GOV.UK says at least 2 years must separate that date from the day you apply.
What is the statutory declaration, and who can witness it?#
A formal written statement on GOV.UK's form, which every applicant makes. There are three versions: for single applicants, for applicants who are married or in a civil partnership, and for a spouse or civil partner who wants the marriage or partnership to continue. GOV.UK points out that none is the same as a change of name statutory declaration.
You give your full name, which becomes the name on the certificate, the month and year of your transition, your affirmed gender and how long you have lived in it, where you normally live, and your marriage or civil partnership history. Leave it unsigned until you are in front of someone authorised to administer oaths, who signs too and adds their qualification. GOV.UK's examples include a practising solicitor, a commissioner for oaths, a notary public, a legal executive, a licensed conveyancer, a justice of the peace and a magistrate; in Scotland, a notary public or a justice of the peace, and GOV.UK adds that most Scottish solicitors are notaries.
| Who takes it | What it costs |
|---|---|
| A solicitor or commissioner for oaths in England and Wales | £5 for each person declaring, under the Commissioners for Oaths (Fees) Order 1993 |
| A magistrates' court in England and Wales | £32 since 13 July 2026, under the Magistrates' Courts Fees Order 2008; GOV.UK's guidance still says £27, and the court can tell you whether it will waive the fee |
| A notary public | Not fixed by the 1993 order, so ask first |
How much does a Gender Recognition Certificate cost?#
The application fee is £6. It rose from £5 on 8 April 2025, under the Court and Tribunal Fees (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2025, which is why older articles and nidirect's Northern Ireland page still show £5. Help with the fee is available if you get certain benefits or have a low income, and GOV.UK says it is not refunded if the application fails.
The £6 is rarely the whole cost, and GOV.UK warns of others depending on your documents:
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Application fee | £6 |
| Your statutory declaration | £5 from a solicitor or commissioner for oaths in England and Wales, or £32 at a magistrates' court |
| Your spouse's or civil partner's declaration, if you are staying married | A second declaration fee |
| Medical reports | Whatever the practitioner charges |
| A copy of your birth certificate, if you have none | £12.50 for a birth registered in England or Wales |
| The new birth certificate afterwards | In England and Wales, the fee for any certified copy of a birth entry; in Northern Ireland the short certificate is free |
How do you apply?#
Online, through GOV.UK's service, where you can save an application and come back to it.
- Change your name first, if it is changing. Then the name on your declaration, and so on the certificate, is the one you will keep.
- Collect your evidence. The medical reports, 2 years of documents, your change of name documents and a copy of your birth or adoption certificate. Each upload must be under 10MB; clear photocopies and photographs are accepted.
- Make your statutory declaration. Sign it in front of a solicitor, commissioner for oaths, notary or magistrate. If you are staying married or in a civil partnership, your spouse or civil partner makes theirs too.
- Apply online and pay the £6. Pay by debit or credit card, and upload everything except the birth or adoption certificate.
- Send your birth or adoption certificate. Email the panel a photo or scan of it, with the name you applied in. GOV.UK gives a postal address if you can only send a photocopy.
- Wait for the decision. The panel may ask for more information first.
The panel's admin team answers questions about the application by email, but GOV.UK says it cannot help with your driving licence, your passport or changing your name. If you are not online or not confident using the service, GOV.UK names We Are Group to help, and a Welsh Language Helpline takes applications in Welsh.
How long does a Gender Recognition Certificate take?#
GOV.UK says the panel will usually look at an application within 22 weeks, and may ask for more information before deciding. The Ministry of Justice's figures show the queue falling: 1,050 applications were waiting at the end of June 2026, against 1,542 a year earlier, when a peak of 730 new applications arrived in one quarter. From April to June 2026 the panel received 429 and decided 592.
How hard is it to get a Gender Recognition Certificate?#
Most applications that reach a decision succeed. In the year to March 2026 the panel decided 1,795: 1,590 ended in a full certificate (89%), 106 were refused (6%), 60 were withdrawn, and 39 were interim certificates, unpaid fees or errors. From April to June 2026, 516 of 592 ended in a full certificate (87%) and 45 were refused.
The figures give no reasons for refusal. GOV.UK says the panel checks whether an application meets all the legal requirements, and that if yours fails you will be told how to appeal or apply again. How many people change their name sets these figures beside the other counts.
What if you are married or in a civil partnership?#
You can stay married. Your spouse or civil partner makes their own statutory declaration agreeing to continue, and the panel can then issue a full certificate. If they will not, or you want to end the marriage, a successful application brings an interim certificate instead, which GOV.UK says can only be used to end the marriage or partnership. You then have 6 months to apply for an annulment, divorce or dissolution, and receive the full certificate once you are no longer married. You can also end it before you apply.
GOV.UK also says your entitlement to some benefits and pensions may change, and so may a spouse's or civil partner's entitlement to your pension if you die. It suggests asking the office that pays your benefits, any private pension provider, and the Department for Work and Pensions' Gender Recognition Team about the State Pension.
What happens to your birth certificate?#
Section 10 of the Act sends a copy of your full certificate to the Registrar General for the part of the UK where your birth or adoption was registered.
- England and Wales. Schedule 3 to the Act has the Registrar General make an entry in a separate Gender Recognition Register and mark your original entry. The register is not open to public inspection or search, and copies of the original entry must not show the marking. A certified copy of the new entry costs the same as a copy of any birth entry, £12.50 from the General Register Office, and must not reveal where it comes from. GOV.UK's guide mentions the charge but not how to order it.
- Scotland. National Records of Scotland sends a draft of the new entry for you to check, then tells you how to get the new certificate. Its page, updated on 6 July 2026, says the entry records any new name, keeps no address, and that its register is not open to public scrutiny.
- Northern Ireland. nidirect says the Registrar General contacts you to arrange re-registration, after which long and short certificates in your new name and acquired gender are available, the short one free.
A marriage or civil partnership registered in the UK can be updated too. If you are intersex or have a variation in sexual characteristics, GOV.UK says you may not need a certificate to correct your birth certificate, and to ask the General Register Office. Our guide to changing the name on a birth certificate covers names without one.
Who can find out that you have a certificate?#
Section 22 of the Act makes it an offence for anyone who learns about your application, or your gender before the certificate, in an official capacity to disclose it. That covers civil servants, police officers and other public office holders, public authorities, voluntary organisations, employers and would-be employers, and anyone acting in the course of a business or professional service. The exceptions include your own agreement, a court order, preventing or investigating crime, and the social security and pension systems. Who can see your former name? covers credit files, background checks and other records.
Does the Supreme Court ruling change the process?#
No, according to GOV.UK. On 16 April 2025, in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16, the Supreme Court held that "sex", "woman" and "man" in the Equality Act 2010 mean biological sex, so a certificate does not change a person's sex for the purposes of that Act. It said this "does not remove or diminish" the Act's protections for trans people with a certificate, and that it was not the court's role to adjudicate on the public arguments about the meaning of gender or sex. Section 9 of the 2004 Act is unchanged; the court held that the Equality Act is legislation that disapplies it for its own purposes. GOV.UK's guide says the ruling "does not affect the current process to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate" and refers questions to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
The routes for your name and everyday documents are separate. GOV.UK has made no major update to its deed poll, passport or driving licence guides since the ruling. HM Passport Office's caseworker guidance, republished in February 2026, still provides for a passport in an acquired gender without a certificate, and GOV.UK's licence pages still accept a deed poll, statutory declaration or certificate as evidence of a change of gender.
Is it different in Scotland and Northern Ireland?#
The process is the same: the 2004 Act extends to the whole UK, and GOV.UK's guide covers applicants in all three jurisdictions. The birth register differs, as above.
Scotland. The Scottish Parliament passed the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill on 22 December 2022, which would have changed the process for applicants in Scotland. On 17 January 2023 the Secretary of State for Scotland made an order under section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 prohibiting the Bill from being submitted for Royal Assent (SI 2023/41). The Court of Session dismissed the Scottish Ministers' challenge on 8 December 2023 ([2023] CSOH 89), and on 20 December 2023 the Scottish Government said it would neither appeal nor withdraw the Bill. It has not become law, so applicants in Scotland use the 2004 Act's process.
Northern Ireland. nidirect describes the same panel and conditions but still gives the old £5 fee. For the alternative route, section 3A(8) of the Act words the Northern Ireland condition as living in the acquired gender on 13 January 2014, where GOV.UK's summary asks for 6 years before that date. Northern Ireland covers the name side there.
What should you update once the certificate arrives?#
- HMRC is usually told automatically, GOV.UK says; tell your employer at the same time (HMRC).
- Your passport: the certificate, or the new birth or adoption certificate, is evidence for the gender marker (the passport gender marker). Apply direct, on GOV.UK or at a Post Office.
- Your driving licence: DVLA accepts the original certificate as evidence of a change of gender; deedpolls.org's guide to changing the gender on a driving licence covers the form and the new licence number.
- The certificate itself: GOV.UK says a lost or damaged one cannot be replaced, though the panel's admin team can send a photocopy or screenshot.
Questions people ask
Do you need surgery to get a Gender Recognition Certificate?
No. GOV.UK says you can apply on the main route even if you have had no gender affirming surgery or treatment and do not plan any. One of your two medical reports must still describe any treatment you have had or plan, or explain why there has been none.
Can you get a Gender Recognition Certificate at 16 or 17?
No. Section 1 of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 sets 18 as the minimum age on every route. Before then a young person's name can change, and from 16 they can make their own deed poll: changing a trans child's name.
Can you change your name after getting a certificate?
Yes, and the certificate stays valid, but GOV.UK says the name on it cannot be updated. You then keep your deed poll with the certificate to link the two names, and HM Passport Office asks for evidence of the change if you apply in a name that differs from the one on your certificate.
Is a Gender Recognition Certificate the same as a deed poll?
No. A deed poll changes your name and needs no medical evidence; a certificate changes your legal gender. If you want both, make the deed poll first, because the certificate carries the name you hold when you apply. Deed poll or Gender Recognition Certificate? compares them.
Can non-binary people get a Gender Recognition Certificate?
No. GOV.UK says you can only apply to be recognised as male or female, and that non-binary genders are not legally recognised in the UK. A deed poll can still change your name to any name you choose.
Do you need a certificate to change the gender on your passport?
No. GOV.UK says you do not need one for your passport, driving licence, medical, employment or bank records. For a passport, a letter from your doctor or medical consultant can take its place: changing the gender marker on a passport.
What if you lose your Gender Recognition Certificate?
GOV.UK says a lost or damaged certificate cannot be replaced. The Gender Recognition Panel's admin team can send you a photocopy or screenshot of the original instead.
Something else? Ask us, and a person replies by email, normally the same working day.
