Costs of Gender Recognition Certificate lowered to £5 in England and Wales
In the England and Wales, Women and Equalities Minister Liz Truss has announced the reduction in costs of a gender recognition certificate (GRC), from £140 to £5. Around 200.000 to 500.000 people in the UK identity as transgender, albeit the true amount is unknown. The move comes amid wider reforms in the ability for the English and Welsh to legally change their gender, whilst the Scottish government has done its own consultation with results to be announced. Also, the gender recognition system in Northern Ireland is not affected.
The current situation requires trans people to go through a heavy pathologising process in which they need to acquire two medical reports, a procedure which comes at a high cost and slow progression. Reducing the costs of GRCs takes away a “barrier” for transgender people, according to Truss. In a national survey held amongst LGBT people, one-third of transgender people indicated that the costs of the GRCs were holding them back from gaining recognition of their gender.
The website of the Women and Equalities Minister states that “as of December 2020, there have now been a total of 5.871 full GRCs granted since 2005, yet tentative estimates suggest there are an estimated 200.000 to 500.000 transgender people living in the UK. The government hopes that modernising the process of applying will allow more transgender people to legally change their sex with a GRC should they wish to do so”.
The Tory government of Boris Johnson has also pledged to make work of the application process online in a bid to facilitate the LGBTQ community. However, charities that work with LGBTQ people are critical, saying that the whole system needs a fundamental reform. Earlier, Lee Clatworthy from national transgender charity Sparkle said that the process remains “overly long-winded” and a reduction in cost “won’t compel more to apply”. Nancy Kelly, chief executive of LGBT charity Stonewall, said that in general the government needs to streamline the application process and make it available online as well, besides stating that any fees “create a barrier for some trans people”.
The new legislation comes into immediate effect in England and Wales.
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