What kind of charity Stonewall is#
Stonewall is a national LGBTQ+ rights charity, registered in England and Wales and in Scotland as Stonewall Equality Limited. Its work is mostly at a national level: campaigning, policy, research, and workplace inclusion programmes for employers, alongside resources for schools and the public. It has teams for Wales (Stonewall Cymru), Scotland and Northern Ireland. Its pages say plainly that its information is not legal advice.
Getting help from it, and from others#
Stonewall does not offer frontline support itself. Its contact page gives email routes for general enquiries, fundraising, the press, employers in its programmes, and each nation's team, and for frontline help it sends people to its list of support services.
That support services page, updated in June 2026, is a useful map of where to go. It groups organisations by need:
- Helplines, including Switchboard and LGBT Foundation.
- Abuse and hate crime, through Galop.
- Housing and homelessness, including Stonewall Housing and akt.
- Asylum and immigration, such as Rainbow Migration and Micro Rainbow.
- Legal advice, through Citizens Advice, the Law Centres Network and LawWorks clinics.
- Discrimination, through the Equality Advisory Support Service in England, Scotland and Wales.
Several of these have their own pages in this handbook, including Switchboard LGBT+ and akt.
What its trans hub explains#
Stonewall's LGBTQ+ hubs gather articles and stories for different parts of the community. The trans hub's page on the Gender Recognition Act 2004 explains what a Gender Recognition Certificate is: legal recognition of an acquired gender, which allows a new birth certificate, applied for with medical reports and evidence of living in that gender for at least two years. It notes that many trans people do not apply for one, and that you do not need one to live in your gender.
That is the key point for anyone thinking about their name. A name change is a different, much simpler step. You do not need a certificate, a diagnosis or anyone's permission to change your name as an adult; a deed poll is enough for a passport, a driving licence and most records. Deed poll or Gender Recognition Certificate? sets out what each one changes.
Name changes at work#
Much of Stonewall's work is with employers on LGBTQ+ inclusion, and a new name at work is a common practical question. What your employer should update, and what evidence it may ask for, is in changing your name with your employer. For a criminal record check, which asks for previous names, our DBS guide explains the confidential route for trans applicants.
Making the deed poll#
Stonewall publishes no deed poll guidance or templates. Anyone from 16 can write one using GOV.UK's sample wording, and enrolment is a choice, not a requirement. Charities for trans and non-binary people lists the charities that do publish name guides, and Can I get a deed poll for free? shows the free routes.
This page describes what Stonewall publishes on its own website, read on 26 October 2026. Stonewall has not reviewed it, and listing a charity here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
