About us
The Gender Recognition Panel was established under the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to assess applications from transsexual people for legal recognition in their acquired gender.
There are two parts to the Panel:
- The administrative team who support the judicial members and
- The judicial members who assess applications for Gender Recognition Certificates.
The Panel has eleven members, made up of the following:
- a President;
- a Deputy President;
- three Legal members, and
- six Medical members.
The President of the Gender Recognition Panel is Jeremy Bennett and the Deputy President is Pauline Gray.
Panel members are recruited according to the guidelines set out in Schedule 1 of the Gender Recognition Act 2004.
The Panel is able to provide advice on how to apply for Gender Recognition as well as the application process. They are also able to provide the relevant application forms and guidance.
User Group
The aim of the user group is to provide an opportunity for you to discuss matters relating to our, non case specific, operations and processes with representatives from the Panel and administration. This helps to identify better ways for us to better serve our users. Minutes from the meetings held in March & May 2010 can be found below. Our next User Group Meeting is taking place in 2011. We will publish details of the events in early 2011. Please note: We are not able to pay for any travel costs for attendance to this event.
User Group meeting notes
- Meeting held on 18 Mar 2010
(45kb) - Meeting held on 05 Nov 2008 (16kb)
Customer Satisfaction Survey
The Gender Recognition Panel undertook a Customer Satisfaction Survey during spring 2009. Customers receiving the final decision from the panel were invited to complete and return a questionnaire. The results were very positive, with 100% of respondents who took part, stating that they were satisfied with the administrative process (93% of respondents stated that they were "very satisfied"). Customers stated that they were kept informed and that information provided by the GRP was "straightforward".
It was clear though from customers’ comments that parts of the process were still not as straightforward as they should be and below are some frequently asked questions:
- "Why can’t application forms be completed online?"
The applications form needs to be printed off and sent to us by post as it needs to be signed by the applicant. The Statutory Declaration contained within the application pack also needs to be signed and witnessed as this is a legal document. - "Where does it state clearly how much I have to pay?"
The details of any payments and exemptions can be found at Other guidance and information. The PDF file "Fees for applying to the Gender Recognition Panel" contains all of the up-to-date information detailing costs involved, including any reduced costs and exemptions. - "Does Gender Reassignment Surgery have to be completed before the application goes before a Panel?"
Gender Reassignment Surgery is not a requirement of the Gender Recognition Act 2004, although details of any surgery assist the panel in their decision. Please refer to Section 6 of the document "Guidance for completing an application form for a Gender Recognition Certificate" which can be found at Application for Gender Recognition.
Due to the confidential nature of the Gender Recognition Panel’s work the survey was not part of any external research and was conducted in–house by a postal survey. The survey dealt only with the administration of the tribunal and not with any judicial aspects of the GRP.
