Charities that help trans and non-binary people change their name

Which charities help trans and non-binary people change their name?#

TransActual, LGBT Foundation and Not A Phase publish guides for adults; Mermaids helps young people and their families, with free templates; Scottish Trans and LGBT Youth Scotland explain the Scottish route; The Rainbow Project covers Northern Ireland; and Umbrella Cymru, a Welsh charity, prepares a deed poll for free. Galop supports LGBT+ people who have experienced abuse.

What most of these charities share is a starting point. They tell you that a change of name can cost nothing, and several warn that an enrolled deed poll makes your old and new names public. That is sound advice, and this page follows it.

What does changing your name involve when you transition?#

The same as for anyone else, with a few points that matter more:

• A name needs no medical evidence. You change it by deed poll, or in Scotland often by statutory declaration, whatever your gender and at whatever stage of transition. Changing your name when you transition goes organisation by organisation, and deed poll or Gender Recognition Certificate? separates the two.
• Your gender marker is a separate request. A passport in your affirmed gender has its own evidence rules, set out in changing the gender on your passport.
• Under 16, everyone with parental responsibility must agree, or a court decides. Changing a trans child's name covers this; at 16 or 17 you can make your own deed poll.
• Enrolment is public. GOV.UK says enrolling puts your change of name and your address in The Gazette. TransActual adds that the record is permanent and open to anyone.
• A criminal record check can keep your history private. GOV.UK says a transgender applicant can ask DBS not to reveal a previous name or gender; what DBS asks for explains the route.
• Not a British citizen? The Home Office will put your acquired name and gender on an eVisa if your own country will not change your passport, as long as you use them for all purposes. Changing your name if you are not a British citizen has the rest.

Charities that can help#

What each charity can help with#

Adults in England and Wales

TransActual, a community interest company rather than a registered charity, explains that in England and Wales a name can change simply through use, and its page on name change processes compares a deed poll, a statutory declaration and enrolment, with the costs and the privacy of each. LGBT Foundation's trans guides set out the routes, from writing your own deed to an online agency, and suggest changing your passport before your driving licence so DVLA can use the passport number. Not A Phase has a five-step guide to a passport in your name and gender without a certificate, with the deed poll as step one.

What to ask: which organisations in your life are likely to want more than a deed poll, and how to answer one that asks for an enrolled deed or for medical evidence.

Young people and families

Mermaids supports trans and gender-diverse young people and their families. Its deed poll page has free templates and consent letters for under-16s and for 16 and over, says a deed poll need not cost anything, and explains when a young person of 16 cannot yet change their own name. Gendered Intelligence runs services for trans, non-binary and gender questioning people and for the families of young trans people.

What to ask: how to talk to a parent who has not agreed, what the school will need, and what happens if a court order is in place.

Scotland

Scottish Trans calls a statutory declaration the easiest and cheapest way to change your name in Scotland and publishes a Word template for over-16s. LGBT Youth Scotland explains both routes for young people and says a justice of the peace at your local court can witness a declaration for free. If you were born in Scotland you can also record the change with National Records of Scotland, but Citizens Advice Scotland points out that the record is on a public register, so anyone can see it. Changing your name in Scotland compares the routes.

Northern Ireland

The Rainbow Project explains the choices there: recording a change of name with the General Register Office for Northern Ireland, or a deed poll, enrolled or not. Changing your name in Northern Ireland sets out what a recorded change puts on a birth certificate.

Wales

Umbrella Cymru prepares a deed poll for anyone aged 16 or over and emails it free; printed versions with extra copies cost £7.50, £12.50 or £17.50 plus postage, and it offers a do-it-yourself template too. It is the one charity we found that makes deed polls itself.

If you have experienced abuse

Galop runs the national helpline for LGBT+ victims and survivors of abuse and violence, and its site has an exit button. Charities that help after domestic abuse lists the wider services.

How do I reach help privately?#

• Use each charity's own website for its contact options. Gendered Intelligence, Galop and several others have a button that leaves the site quickly.
• If you live with people who do not know, use a device and an email address that only you use, and think about where letters will arrive.
• Keep the deed unenrolled if you want the change to stay between you and the organisations you choose to tell.

Can I make the deed poll myself, for free?#

Yes. GOV.UK publishes the wording, and anyone aged 16 or over can write it out, sign it before two witnesses aged 18 or over, and use it at once. Mermaids and Umbrella Cymru offer free templates, and in Scotland a statutory declaration can be witnessed free by a justice of the peace.

A paid deed poll adds a checked draft on certificate paper, optional certified copies so you can write to several organisations at once, and a refund if one refuses it; can I get a deed poll for free? weighs the two. These charities appear here because of the help they publish. A listing does not mean a charity recommends us, and none of them has reviewed this page.