Employee changes their gender

If one of your employees changes their gender you don't need to take any action until your employee gives you their full Gender Recognition Certificate. You'll need to update your personnel and payroll records. You'll also need to check their National Insurance contributions (NICs) position - this may change, depending on their acquired gender and how old they are.

On this page:

When you need to take action
Changes you need to make
More useful links

When you need to take action

If a person successfully meets all the conditions the law requires, the Gender Recognition Panel issues a Gender Recognition Certificate. This shows that the person is legally recognised in their acquired gender. From the date the certificate is issued, the person has all the same rights as other people of the gender they've acquired.

The Gender Recognition Panel issues two types of Gender Recognition Certificate, interim and full. As an employer, you only need to take action when your employee gives you a full certificate.

If your employee pays NICs at a reduced rate

Some married women and widows can pay NICs at a reduced rate. They have a Certificate of Election to prove this entitlement - this will be one of the following forms - CA4139, CF383 or CF380A.

If your employee was previously paying reduced-rate NICs and their new acquired gender is male, their Certificate of Election stops being valid from the 'date of issue' shown on their full Gender Recognition Certificate.

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Changes you need to make

When your employee gives you their full Gender Recognition Certificate you'll need to update your personnel and payroll records and see if you need to change the NICs you deduct and pay.

Updating your records

Update your payroll records with the employee's new personal details as they appear on their certificate. This includes any changes to their:

title (Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms or other)
first name(s) - always provide your employee's full first name(s) and ensure that the spelling is correct
surname - always provide the full surname and ensure that it has been spelled correctly

You'll need to amend the P11 Deductions Working Sheet or equivalent record you use to record the employee's pay, tax and NICs. And if you're using payroll software (either HMRC's online software or a commercial package) you'll need to update the same information.

When you've updated your records, photocopy the Gender Recognition Certificate and give the original back to your employee.

NICs - your employee is under 60

Unless your employee has been paying reduced rate NICs you won't need to make any changes to the amount of NICs you deduct from their pay. It doesn't matter whether your employee's acquired gender is male or female.

NICs - your employee is aged between 60 and 64

Your employee's new gender may mean a change to their State Pension age, which affects the amount of NICs you deduct from their pay.

If your employee was previously male and acquires female gender, she no longer has to pay Class 1 NICs from the date of issue shown on the full Gender Recognition Certificate (This is because she has reached the State Pension age for women, currently 60). So instead of deducting any Class 1 NICs from her earnings, you must pay 'employer only' NICs on amounts above the earnings threshold.
If your employee was previously female and acquires male gender, he has to start paying Class 1 NICs from the date of issue shown on the full Gender Recognition Certificate (This is because he is under the State Pension age for men, currently 65). So if you were previously paying 'employer only' NICs for him, you must start paying both employee and employer Class 1 NICs. This applies to any earnings above the earnings threshold until the employee reaches State Pension age.

Find out about changes to State Pension age on the Directgov website (Opens new window)

NICs - your employee is 65 or over

If your employee is aged 65 or over you won't need to make any changes to the amount of NICs you deduct from their pay under PAYE.

PAYE tax - all employees

You should continue to deduct PAYE tax as usual unless HMRC tells you otherwise by sending you a new tax code for your employee. This applies to employees of all ages.

Read about what to do if you get a new tax code for an employee

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