This page gives details on how to update your name, gender, and other details when transitioning. Please note this is not legal advice, this just collates information found freely online into a single place. It is also not an exhaustive list of everywhere you may wish to update your details.
Deeds Poll
To formally change your name in the UK, you will need to complete a deed poll. There are two types available, enrolled and unenrolled. To do an unenrolled deed poll (which most businesses and public sector agencies should accept, and you can push back on if they say they won’t), you can simply complete various templates online (see Gov.uk, Mermaids or other websites. You DO NOT have to pay a company to complete one for you, the only things you need to complete one is:
• Old name
• New name
• Old signature
• New signature (can be same as old signature)
• Your current address
• Two people to sign, along with their addresses (these people should not live with you or be family members)
You will likely have to send original versions of your deed poll out to various people once completed, so along with making copies, it is sensible to complete multiple original copies in case some organisations do not send back/it gets lost in the mail.
An enrolled deed poll is a deed poll that is officially registered in the High Court and a record of your name change will be published in the London Gazette (creating a permanent public record). It also costs £53.05 to do. The advantage of this method is that it will be accepted everywhere without contest (but as stated previously most people face no issues with an unenrolled deed poll, even with passports, driving licence etc.) An enrolled deed poll needs to be applied for and can take months to complete, applications are done through Gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll/enrol-a-deed-poll-with-the-courts.
Changing names with companies/public sector bodies
Once you have your deed poll completed, you will need to begin changing your name with the various companies and public sector bodies that you use the services of. Each one will have slightly different requirements and can vary even within the same are (for example, from bank to bank) so do not assume you can follow a single method for each organisation you change your name with. As a guide, you may need to send name change requests (and copies of your deed poll to:
• HM Passport Office
• DVLA (You will also need to complete a D1 form)
• Insurance Provider
• Car registration/vehicle logs
• HMRC
• Your Bank(s)
• Your mobile phone provider
• Internet/telephone provider
• TV provider
• NHS/GP
• University (for updated degree certificates/transcripts)
• Exam boards (for updated A-Level, GCSE etc certificates)
• Your employer
• Student Loans Company
• Various subscription services (a lot of these will not require deed poll)
For things like passports and DVLA, you may want to at the same time as changing name, change your photo or gender marker. For gender markers on a passport, you will also need a letter from a medical professional (GP for example) saying that your gender change is likely to be permanent. Although driving licences do not have an obvious indicator saying either M or F, your licence number will have either a 5 (female) or a 0 (male) in the middle that indicates gender, when contacting the DVLA you should request that this is changed to reflect your gender.
If you decide you want to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), the simplest way to evidence living as your gender for the two-year period required is through name changes with various service providers/public sector bodies. As such, even if you are not ready to change your name with all of the above in a short period, selecting a few that you can change relatively easily or without too much stress serves as a good starting point for showing you are living as your true gender.
Gender Recognition Certificates
Whether or not you decide to get a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) is a completely personal choice and not having one does not in any way invalidate a person’s trans identity. Many people consider the concept (and indeed process) of obtaining a GRC to be unnecessarily bureaucratic and ultimately not worth the benefits/results of having one.
In short, a GRC allows someone to update their gender on various records that are not listed in the previous section. These include; your birth certificate, HMRC records, marriage/civil partnership certificates (or to get married as your true gender), and you’ll be registered as your correct gender on death certificates.
If you decide to apply for a GRC, you will need to have the following documents/evidence:
• Deed poll (if you have changed your name)
• Statutory Declaration (more details below)
• If married/in a civil partnership your spouse’s statutory declaration
• Marriage certificate (if applicable)
• 2 medical reports (either from 2 different UK medical doctors or a medical doctor and a clinical psychologist) (more details below)
• Evidence of living as true gender for period of 2 years prior to application
• Birth certificate (to be sent after initial application has been received)
Statutory Declaration: There are multiple kinds of statutory declaration required, depending on your relationship status (forms found in the link). If you are not married, you will require a single applicant declaration setting out your gender, when you started transition and stating that you intend to live in your current gender until death. If you are married/in a civil partnership you will have to complete a different form, which in addition to the above, also requires you to state whether you wish to remain in your marriage/partnership and whether your partner has also completed their statutory declaration stating they wish to remain married/in the civil partnership.
All three kinds of statutory declaration have to be read and signed (but not completed) in front of a witness who is authorised to administer oaths. This will likely be one of three kinds of people (although there are others who may also); a solicitor, a magistrate or a notary public. Solicitors and magistrates may only charge a set amount (£5 for a solicitor and £27 for a magistrate), however, anecdotally people have often struggled to find a solicitor to agree to witness for such a small fee. Notaries may charge whatever their going rate is. Other professions who can be a witness are; a commissioner for oaths, a legal executive, a licensed conveyancer, an authorised advocate, an authorised litigator or a justice of the peace.
Medical reports: To apply for a GRC you will need two medical reports. Both reports need to contain your name, the address of the medical professionals practice, and contact details of the person who wrote the report.
One or both of the reports will have to include details of any gender affirming treatments you have had or plan to have, this could include; FFS, Breast Augmentation, Confirmation Surgery, hairline feminising transplant, HRT. If you do not plan to have any affirming treatment the report should explain why this is the case.
The first report will need to be written by a doctor or clinical psychologist who practises in the field of gender dysphoria/incongruence and state who made the GD diagnosis, when it was made and what evidence was used to make the diagnosis.
You do not have to get reports specially done for a GRC, if you already have these in your records, they will be suitable. Say for instance, from the psychologist who diagnosed you and the endocrinologist you saw afterwards to get HRT.
Evidence of living as gender: The Gender Recognition Panel requires evidence that you have lived as your affirmed gender for at least two years prior to application (appx. four pieces of evidence for each year, many suggest doing it as a piece for each quarter). One piece of evidence must be from the last 3 months prior to the application. Evidence can also be from before you had a diagnosis of GD/GI.
Each piece of evidence should include at least one of the following elements:
• Your new name (if applicable)
• Your new title (Miss, Ms, Mr etc.)
• A gender marker (M or F)
Good options for this evidence are:
• your driving licence
• your passport
• identity cards, like workplace IDs, student IDs, railcards, health insurance cards, library cards or supermarket loyalty cards
• letters from solicitors, accountants, doctors, dentists or employers
• bank statements
• payslips, P60s and P45s
• benefit letters
• tax letters and documents, including council tax
• credit reports
• confirmation letters that you’re on the electoral register
• student loan statements
• utility bills, such as internet bills
• rental agreements
• academic certificates and documents
If using things such as utility bills, remember to limit yourself to one bill per provider (i.e only one from EE, one from Sky etc.)
Applications must be made through the official portal which can be found here.
Once you have submitted your application, you should receive acknowledgement from the panel that it has been received and details of where to send your birth certificate to via post.
The time it takes for the panel to review your application varies considerably, however a realistic timeframe (as of Feb 2026) is approximately 6-9 months to hear back whether you have application has been accepted (and what not next steps are regarding things like updated birth certificates) or whether they require further information from you.
NHS Navigation
Due to the way the NHS is configured, the steps you need to take regarding communicating with, following the policies of and accessing services from different parts of the system can vary greatly depending on where you live and who you are registered with. It should also be noted that there are planned changes to the Gender Identity Clinic waiting list system in England at some point in 2026, where instead of being on a waiting list for a single clinic such as Northamptonshire or Nottingham, there will be a single nationwide list. It is unclear at this time what this will look like in practical terms for new or existing referrals, but it is highly unlikely to reduce the waiting times for initial appointments.
It is also worth remembering that although GPs are often your first point of access when seeking medical advice, they are by their very nature, not aware of every facet of the NHS system or even the countless number of policies they are meant to follow. As such, you will at times have to challenge initial decisions you get from GPs and have to do your own research on various relevant policies from places like your Integrated Care Board, which your GP should be following.
NHS Number and Gender Marker
Through your GP practice (who will then contact Primary Care Support England), you can request to have your gender marker and NHS number changed. You can request for just your marker to be changed but this will mean that all your previous details will likely remain visible to clinicians and there are anecdotal reports of titles and gendered references being reverted back to what they were previously when just the marker is changed.
If you opt to have both your marker and NHS number changed, this will essentially create a whole new record for you on NHS systems, meaning that your trans identity essentially becomes hidden (although some looking at records may be able to tell from things like prescriptions or treatments). The main drawback of this method is that it is your responsibility once you have a new number to update other arms of the NHS of this, and some do not have clear policies in place for handling this (such as Northamptonshire GIC). Additionally, you may be invited to screenings that are not relevant to you (such as cervical cancer screenings for trans women or prostate checks for trans men). You will also have to request that some previous information from your old record is transferred over, like repeat prescriptions or recent blood test results.
Requesting Shared Care
If you decide to seek some from gender affirming care (namely HRT) from a private clinic instead of facing the years/decade long GIC waitlists. You will either have to pay the ongoing private prescription charges/blood test appointment fees from what your endocrinologist recommends or seek to get your GP to agree to a shared care agreement with said endocrinologist.
GPs are sadly under no obligation to agree to a shared care agreement (and can rescind it at any time). However, they are more likely to if the clinic is UK based and have NHS recognised doctors/clinicians working for them. You can ask your GP in advance of seeing an endocrinologist if they accept shared care agreements and if they do not, begin asking other local surgeries if they do and seek to move to them if you get a positive response.
In most cases your endocrinologist should write your GP outlining what the responsibilities of each party will be in the agreement and your GP will respond by either agreeing in full, declining or partially agreeing (they may agree to prescribe as recommended by the endo but not do blood tests, or vice versa for example). Unfortunately, due to the current social climate for trans people in the UK GPs are growing more hesitant to enter into new shared care agreements, but it is always worth checking and pushing them to do so or looking at other GP surgeries if not to significantly reduce the ongoing cost of transition care.
HRT Prescription Prepayment Certificate (PPC)
If you are able to access your prescription on the NHS. It may be worth looking into whether you would benefit from a HRT PPC. If you usually pay for your prescribed HRT medicines 3or more times a year, a PPC will likely save you money. You can buy a HRT PPC for £19.80 for a year and get an unlimited number of certain HRT medicines for the 12 month period after that.
You should check beforehand though that your HRT is on this list of medicines covered, as not all are.