Changing the Record: A practical guide to changing your gender marker

By: Dr Rhy Brignell

Dr Rhy Brignell BA MA Ph.D

Rhy is Director of Service Delivery at Eden New Life and is responsible for ensuring all of our subscribers get fast, high quality care in accordance with our treatment protocols. They hold a PhD from the University of East Anglia and have specialised in gender services for more than four years, managing and advising on service delivery for thousands of patients. This is one of a series of articles where Rhy shares guidance and ideas with our members.

Following on from my previous article on changing your name, this article is all about changing the gender marker on your important documents. 

As we progress with hormone treatment, we often want to change the gender marker on our official documents. Our reasons for doing this can vary; sometimes it’s for greater peace of mind when travelling at customs, sometimes it’s so that the correct gender is recorded on our birth certificate, sometimes it’s just because we want to - our reasons are ours. Whatever our reasons may be, it’s useful to have some information on what’s involved. 

Before I get into the how-tos, it’s important to note that in the UK you can only change your gender marker from M to F, or from F to M. Though there was a high-profile court case to change the law a few years ago, and it is an option in many other countries, the UK does not currently recognise third-gender markers such as X. I live in hope that one day this will change and I’ll be first in line when it does!

The advice on changing your gender marker differs depending on which documentation you want to change. It would make for an extremely long (and probably very boring) article if I attempted to address all possible scenarios. So I’ll just cover the most common ones that we get asked about by clients.

Changing your birth or adoption certificate

In order to change your birth or adoption certificate, you will need a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC). With a GRC, your gender will be legally recognised in the UK. A GRC is what you also need for your marriage certificate to be in the correct gender, as well as your death certificate when you die.

You can apply for a GRC through the UK Gov website for a £6 fee. However, before you apply, you need to have collected evidence from a variety of sources (payslips, letters, bills etc.) that shows you have been living in the correct gender for at least the past two years. Ideally, the evidence will be roughly dated every 3 months apart.

You will also need to provide 2 medical reports from UK registered professionals - either from 2 different medical doctors or from a medical doctor and clinical psychologist. The medical report must detail your diagnosis, clinical history, and any gender-affirming care you’ve received. 

Once you’ve provided all the necessary documents, your application is reviewed by a panel made up of people with legal or medical qualifications, which can take about 6 months. The lengthy and complex nature of this process means that the majority of trans people in the UK don’t have a GRC.

Our UK registered specialists can assist you with the medical reports required for a GRC application, provided you are eligible to apply. You can read more about our service here.

As of June 2025, according to the UK Gov website, the Supreme Court ruling on the Equality Act does not affect the current process to apply for a GRC.

Changing your passport

If you have a GRC, you can use it as evidence for changing the gender marker on your passport in your application to the UK Passport Office.

If you don’t have a GRC, you can still change the gender marker on your passport. You will need to provide the Passport Office with a letter from your doctor or medical consultant confirming that your change of gender is likely to be permanent. Eden New Life provides this service on a Pay-As-You-Go basis, where our UK-registered specialist doctors can provide you with a letter that you can share with any organisation that may require it.

When changing gender markers on your passport, you’ll also need to provide your deed poll confirming your change of name and title, if you have changed it.

There are a few additional identifying documents you may need to provide depending on whether you’re applying for a passport for the first time or renewing one - the Passport Office has a helpful guide for trans people available here. 

Changing your driving license

Standard UK driving licenses typically don’t display a gender marker, but they can display a title. You can change the title on your driving license for free by submitting a deed poll confirming your change of name and title. A GRC or statutory declaration is also acceptable. The UK Gov website provides information on this here.

Changing your NHS record

It’s generally best to speak directly with your NHS GP practice in order to change your gender marker on your NHS record, as they might have variations in procedure. It’s likely that your GP surgery will have a form for you to fill out. You do not need to have a GRC or have had gender-affirming surgery in order to change your gender marker. You should be able to just change your title (i.e. from Mr to Miss) without also changing your gender marker - your surgery might request a deed poll from you as evidence.

If you change your gender marker with the NHS, you will usually be assigned a new NHS number and your GP surgery will register you as a new patient. Your GP surgery will then need to consolidate the medical information under your previous record into your new record. Even if you rarely see your GP, you’ll still have a medical history that needs to be matched up (such as vaccination records from when you were a baby).

Unfortunately, the admin behind this process is quite complicated for GP surgeries, especially if they’ve never done it before. One of our clients wrote to us recently about their experiences and said that changing their NHS gender marker was “by far the most difficult and frustrating process in my transition leading to several weeks without important medication.” There are risks involved which you should be aware of, including potential loss of older medical records, potentially missing out on screening invites, and potential loss of place on NHS waiting lists (such as the GIC).

At Eden New Life, we record information about your gender marker sensitively and securely. If you are starting hormones, our specialists need to ask you about your assigned sex at birth for medical reasons to ensure you receive the correct treatment. We also record how you refer to your gender (and pronouns and title) so that we can address you correctly. If you change your preferences at any point, you can just let us know and we will update our records without any fuss. As mentioned earlier, we also provide services to help you change your gender marker on your documents elsewhere. If you need any assistance or have any questions about changing your gender marker, you can get in touch with our team any time.