Gender Recognition

Contents

Background

A ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, resulted in the United Kingdom Government making provision for transsexual people to be recognised in their acquired gender, and for them to be treated in accordance with those rights and responsibilities pertinent to that gender.

As a consequence, the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (July 2004) will come into effect from 4 April 2005. This will allow transsexual people to legally change their recorded gender and to benefit from any rights and responsibilities that are associated with their acquired gender. Transsexuals will be able to submit an application to change their gender to the newly created Gender Recognition Panel from 4 January 2005.

Terminology

Acquired Gender: This refers to the gender which a transsexual person presents to the world, it is not the gender that they were registered with at birth.

Full Gender Recognition Certificate: A certificate issued by the Gender Recognition Panel that shows a person has satisfied the criteria for legal recognition in their acquired gender. From the date of issue the person is recognised in their acquired gender and will benefit from any rights and responsibilities that are associated with that acquired gender.
Gender Recognition Q & A.

Interim Gender Recognition Certificate: A certificate issued by the Gender Recognition Panel that shows a person has met the criteria to be recognised in their acquired gender subject to them annulling their marriage. A full Gender Recognition Certificate will be issued following the annulment of the marriage.

Transsexual Female: A person who at birth was recorded as male but chooses to live as a female, should be referred to in female terms (i.e. ‘she’, ‘her’, ‘Ms’).

Transsexual Male: A person who at birth was recorded as female but chooses to live as a male, should be referred to in male terms (i.e. ‘he’, ‘him’, ‘Mr’).

What to do if an employee presents you with their full Gender Recognition Certificate.

You will need to take a copy of the full Gender Recognition Certificate and:

  • update your personnel records to reflect the employees ‘acquired ’ gender and the title by which they want to be known;
  • review the employee’s National Insurance contributions (NICs) position. This may change if the employee is aged 60 or over or has been paying reduced rate NICs – see the QA section below;

What to do if an employee presents you with their interim Gender Recognition Certificate.

The interim certificate has no legal status. There will not be a requirement to update your records or review the National Insurance contributions payable.


  Home Top | Menu