This is a well organised process which even has its own page on the UK government website. The page is self explanatory but for some reason does not include some must know details. The good news is the application only costs £6.
To apply you must be over the age of 18, have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria in the UK, have been living in your chosen gender for a minimum of two years and intend to live in that gender as long as you are alive.
What do I need and how much does it cost?The evidence required includes two medical reports, one of which must be by a registered medical practitioner or a chartered psychologist practicing in the field of gender dysphoria. These reports must include details of the gender dysphoria as it affects you and professionals might charge for them, so that's a potential extra expense. If you've undergone gender affirming care (including surgery) or are planning to undergo it then the reports must include details of that. The reports must also include a statutory declaration to confirm you've been living in what's called your 'acquired gender' for two years and that you intend to do so until death.
If you have the equivalent of a gender recognition certificate (GRC) from abroad, you can submit that with your application as long as you are 18 or older and if accepted, it will exempt you from some or all of the other requirements.
You do not need to have had completed top and bottom surgery be on hormonal treatment, nor do you need to intend to have any mix of the three.
It is possible to apply for a GRC if you don't have a gender dysphoria diagnosis, but that's more complex, with multiple requirements, the key ones being you must have been married in 2014 and have had gender affirmation surgery.
One thing that isn't clear on the
Gov.uk web page is you need to change your name by deed poll
before you apply for your GRC. If you change your name afterward, your GRC remains valid, but if you need to present it there'll be obvious problems and so there is also a process for reissuing a GRC with a changed name.
If you are married or in a civil partnership, then when you apply for a GRC you should include evidence from your partner confirming they wish the partnership to continue. You can still apply if they don't.
What happens next?The Gender Recognition Panel (GRP) will look at your application and your supporting documentation to tick off the legal requirements above. Don't expect an instant reply because the
Gov.uk site says the average is around 22 weeks.
If your partner doesn't agree to continue their relationship with you (or you with them), then the GRP will issue what's called an interim certificate and you have six months to apply for divorce or whatever.
What does having a GRC mean for me?First, you gain what's called a 'protected characteristic' which means for example, an employer can't discriminate against you on the grounds you are trans.
You can update your birth (or adoption) certificate if it was issued in the UK and you can get married in your chosen gender. If you are married, or in a civil partnership, you can update that certificate too.
You can be recognised as either male or female. This is the object of the exercise, but it is where the confusion begins because the Gender Recognition Act 2004's wording is loose. This is what it says:
Where a full gender recognition certificate is issued to a person, the person's gender becomes for all purposes the acquired gender (so that, if the acquired gender is the male gender, the person's sex becomes that of a man and, if it is the female gender, the person's sex becomes that of a woman).What does having a GRC not mean?The protected characteristic of being transgender is not relevant in situations where the Equality Act 2010 (EA2010) applies, because your 'biological sex' is not changed by a GRC.
A GRC doesn't change your legal status as father or mother of any children you have.
You can't be recognised as a non-binary gender, because the UK only recognises two genders in law. If you are non-binary, a GRC will not be granted to you.
Questions?Q1: The Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA2004) clearly says that although I was born a woman, now I have a GRC my sex becomes that of a man. So how come all these voices are shouting that I'm not a man after the 2025 Supreme Court judgment?
A1: Because in the eyes of the law, you are considered a man under GRA2004, but in situations where the Equality Act applies, the test is biological sex and the Supreme Court ruling is that your biological sex has not changed. That, amongst other many other reasons is why sex and gender are split by the WHO.
Q2: What's changed for people holding a GRC in England and Wales?
A2: Nothing, other than perceptions. Some organisations will have to reconsider policies they've implemented that are in conflict with the Equality Act, but otherwise, your legal status is the same as it was.
Q3: What's changed for people holding a GRC in Scotland?
A3: For a brief period, Scottish law held that an acquired female sex GRC holder had the same protected characteristics under EA2010 as someone whose biological sex was female and vice versa. That's no longer the case. From now, someone holding a GRC in Scotland is in the same position as someone holding a GRC in England and Wales is and has always been.
Q4: Do I need to apply for a GRC?
A4: It depends entirely on your situation, but since you acquire a bunch of rights including recognition to be considered a sex consistent with your acquired gender, it's worth it. If you don't apply, you don't get.
Q5: Like all Brits I'm obsessed with toilets, how does this affect me?
A5: Good one. Technically, toilets are only part of the EQ2010 in terms of equal provision, but the Equality Act does apply nonetheless and holding a GRC doesn't change your biological sex. My advice is stand back and learn from what happens when activists start deciding some cis women don't look female enough and challenge them.
Q6: What's this thing with biological sex? The wording is all over the Supreme Court judgment?
A6: There has never been a watertight definition of what biological sex is in UK law and this may come back to haunt the Supreme Court yet. In practice, it means 'sex assigned at birth', or SAB, which relies on a visual assessment of a baby's genitals. While it's right 99% of the time, in the case of intersex SAB is very frequently wrong, depending on what you consider to be the determinants of biological sex.
Q7: Where does this leave intersex people, then?
A7: In a complex place, but there is no reason why someone who is intersex cannot apply for a GRC.
Q8: Where does the Supreme Court decision leave non-binary people?
A8: Nowhere. The whole trans paradigm in the eye of UK law is lurching into obsolescence because at present, one third of referrals to gender affirming care services in the UK are non-binary people who cannot apply for a GRC.
Q9: Could the European Court of Human Rights rule against the UK Supreme Court if an appeal was brought against the judgment the SC gave on 16 April 2025?
A9: Possibly, but not probably, because the Supreme Court was very careful to confine its ruling to the the GRA2004, the EA2010 and which applied in which case.
