The Government has rejected attempts to make it easier for people to change their gender, saying that the current system is “rigorous” and “robust”. 

In the midst of concern over access to single-sex spaces such as hospital wards, ministers refused attempts by MPs to move the law towards a system of self-identification of legal gender. 

The Government said it had already consulted on the controversial subject and “the current provisions allow for those that wish to legally change their sex to do so, and we will not be changing the legislation”. 

It was responding to a report by the Women and Equalities Committee, released in December 2021, which said that several steps required before a trans person can obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) should be removed. 

Checks ‘provide assurance’

These included the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, for spousal consent and for the requirement for a person to live in their chosen gender for two years to be scrapped. 

Rejecting the calls in their formal response on Thursday, the Government said that the checks “ensure that the legal gender recognition process is rigorous and provides assurance that the system is robust”. 

The process has already been simplified by a reduction in the fee to make the changes from £140 to £5, which has seen a “marked increase” in the number applying, the report said. 

The recommendations of the committee to move toward a system of self-identification were made despite warnings from women’s rights campaigners and legal experts that they could jeopardise single-sex spaces, which are also protected under equality law. 

Updates to protections

When asked about the balance, the Government noted that “the Equality and Human Rights Commission is currently looking to update its guidance on the workings of the single-sex exceptions in the Equality Act”. 

They also pointed out that there had been some updates to protections in recent years, including the Ministry of Justice which “strengthened the risk assessment framework” in 2019. Since then there have been “no assaults or sexual assaults by trans women in the women’s prisons” and they noted that “over 90 per cent of trans women prisoners are held in the men’s estate”. 

The response said: “To be clear, the Government’s position remains that no changes are needed to the GRA [Gender Recognition Act]. In UK law, individuals are considered to be the sex that is registered on their birth certificate – either male or female, with the GRA providing for individuals to be able to change their legal sex.”