About LGBT Foundation#
LGBT Foundation has worked with LGBTQ+ people since 1975. It is a national charity based in Manchester, with health and wellbeing at the centre of what it does: a helpline, sexual and mental health services, support around domestic abuse, and trans advocacy. Its trans and non-binary support page also points people to gender identity clinics and to the newer NHS gender service pilots, including one in Greater Manchester.
Reaching its helpline and services#
The contact and support page lists a helpline open on weekday daytimes (not on bank holidays or religious festivals), a general enquiry form, and a self-referral form for its health and wellbeing services. Professionals who want to refer someone have a separate referral form on the same page, and the charity suggests talking it through with the person first and, if they agree, helping them make the call.
Its trans guide on changing your name#
The charity's Trans Guides issue one, on the web and as a downloadable booklet, opens with the point many people do not expect: there is no legal process you must follow to change your name, but you will need evidence of it to update official records. The evidence it describes is a change of name deed, another name for a deed poll, which you can get in four ways:
- ask a solicitor to draft it;
- draft it yourself, using GOV.UK's suggested wording;
- use an online agency;
- enrol your new name with the Royal Courts of Justice, which it says is not compulsory and makes the name a matter of public record.
It adds practical points: two independent witnesses over 18 who are not your spouse or a relative, good paper and a plain font so the deed looks official, and certified copies from a solicitor for a small fee if you need several. It suggests changing your passport first, because DVLA can then use your passport number instead of needing the deed itself. Record holders should not charge to change your name, it says, apart from a new photo on a passport or licence. Under 18s need parental consent or a court order.
The shorter support page explains enrolled and unenrolled deed polls in two lines, and says that over 16 you can make your own without a solicitor or a parent's consent.
Reading it alongside GOV.UK#
The two pages agree on the main point. GOV.UK says anyone aged 16 or over can make an unenrolled deed poll; a parent or a court comes in for children under 16, and for enrolment until 18. The guide's caution about unusual names refers to the Identity and Passport Service, which is now HM Passport Office. GOV.UK lists enrolment at £53.05, and says the record of the change, with your address, is published in The Gazette.
Where the handbook goes further#
- Deed poll or Gender Recognition Certificate?: what each document changes.
- Changing your name with DVLA: what DVLA asks for, and the passport route the guide mentions.
- What is a certified copy?: who can certify one, and when organisations want one.
- Can I get a deed poll for free?: the free route, and what a drafted deed poll adds.
This page describes what LGBT Foundation publishes on its own website, read on 26 October 2026. LGBT Foundation has not reviewed it, and listing a charity here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
