Two separate things#
Changing your name and changing your legal gender are different processes with different evidence, and it helps to keep them apart. Your name is changed by deed poll, and the deed poll asks for no reason and no evidence: you sign it in your old and new names in front of your witnesses and the name is changed. Your legal gender is changed by a Gender Recognition Certificate, which GOV.UK says lets you update your birth or adoption certificate, marry in your affirmed gender and have it recorded on your death certificate.
GOV.UK is clear that you do not need a Gender Recognition Certificate to update your driving licence, your passport, your medical records, your employment records or your bank account. Most of the changes people want day to day are made without one. Deed poll or Gender Recognition Certificate? sets the two side by side.
The name#
Make the deed poll first, because almost every organisation will want it before it changes anything else. Our adult deed poll records your new forenames and surname; it does not record a gender and does not need to. GOV.UK's guidance on applying for a Gender Recognition Certificate says that if you have changed your name to reflect your affirmed gender you should keep copies of all the documents that show when you did, enrolled or unenrolled deed polls and statutory declarations, so date the deed poll carefully and keep it safe.
Titles are not part of your legal name, so a deed poll cannot change one; you tell each organisation the title you use. Mx and other gender-neutral titles explains what banks and the passport office do with them.
Your passport#
GOV.UK's passport guidance says to send one of the following when you apply: a Gender Recognition Certificate, a new birth or adoption certificate showing your acquired gender, or a letter from your doctor or medical consultant confirming that your change of gender is likely to be permanent. If you are sending a doctor's letter and you are also changing your name, you must also send evidence of the change of name, such as a deed poll, and evidence that you are using the new name, for example a payslip or a letter from your local council. The passport is the document most other organisations check, so it is usually the second job after the deed poll.
Your driving licence#
GOV.UK's licence page covers a change of name or gender in one process: form D1 (D2 for a lorry or bus licence) from a Post Office, sent to DVLA with your licence and any original documents that confirm the new name or gender. It costs nothing, you can keep driving while the new licence comes, and the same page says the process is the same for changing your title. Changing your name with DVLA has the detail.
HMRC and benefits#
GOV.UK's HMRC page says your name will be updated automatically if you change gender, and Child Benefit lists a change of name or gender among the changes to report. Universal Credit and the State Pension are reported through your account or to the Pension Service. Changing your name with HMRC and with DWP have the routes.
Your home#
HM Land Registry offers a choice: form AP1 with standard documents such as a deed poll, statement of truth or statutory declaration, or form CNG if you want to send more sensitive documents that show your name has changed. GOV.UK says both update the register in the same way, and there is no fee. Changing your name on the property register explains the identity forms that go with either.
Banks#
Banks change a name on a deed poll and, in NatWest's published policy, change a gender marker on request without documentary evidence, though it says it can currently only record male or female; it will update titles to gender-neutral ones such as Mx. Nationwide says not all of its accounts can be opened with Mx. Changing your name with your bank has both banks' routes.
Non-binary and intersex people#
GOV.UK says non-binary genders are not legally recognised in the UK, and a Gender Recognition Certificate can only recognise you as male or female. A deed poll is unaffected by that: it changes your name to any name you choose, and the organisations above will record it. 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 points you to the General Register Office.
Privacy#
An unenrolled deed poll is a private document: nothing is published and no register is kept. Enrolling a deed poll with the High Court puts your old and new names in The Gazette, which is public and searchable, so most people who transition choose not to enrol. Enrolled and unenrolled deed polls explains what each involves.
