No gender recognition provisions: 0/10 | There are laws and provisions, but with legal/medical/psychological approval: 5/10 | There are laws for self-determination, but only for those over 16 years of age: 7,5/10 | There are laws on gender self-determination, including those under 16 years of age: 10/10
Legal gender recognition (LGR) procedures are only in place in England, Wales and Scotland, for those who are over 18 years old, comfortable with being recognised as a binary gender identity, able to offer medical evidence of gender dysphoria and able to provide evidence of having lived in your gender for at least two years. Trans rights activists campaign for a process that is based on the principle of self-determination, which is also available to non-binary people and to those under 18 years of age. There is an ongoing consultation in relation to Scotland, England and Wales, further to a public consultation. Regrettably, the only changes that were made consisted of (i) the application form being made available online and (ii) the fee being reduced to £5.00. The reform processes have failed young people (see under School environment.)
In Northern Ireland, medical interventions are also a requirement although trans people have been unable to access gender affirming healthcare services since 2018, due to long waiting times. Consequently, trans people in Northern Ireland have also been unable to access LGR since 2018, unless they could afford to resort to private healthcare. In 2021, the Northern Ireland High Court ruled that the diagnosis of having a ‘disorder’ can no longer be a legitimate requirement of LGR.
In 2024, the UK government temporarily banned puberty blockers for young people under the age of 18, following the Cass review. At the end of 2024, the legislation was updated to make the order indefinite. It will not be reviewed until 2027.
Name change is accessible to minors with supportive primary carers and some NGOs provide guidance on how the process can be done.
In 2022, the UK government announced that the new law on conversion practices would not cover gender identity, as initially planned, but would apply only on the grounds of sexual orientation. In 2025, the current UK government resumed discussions on the law, stating that it would now include gender identity. A mooted Scottish Government ban on conversion practices is currently on hold as it is decided by Westminster what form of ban they wish to take forward UK-wide, and if that will align with Scotland’s aims.
In 2023, the UK Government blocked Scottish draft legislation on LGR through self-identification, due to what many interlocutors met during the visit considered a conflict about powers rather than legal gender recognition as such. The Scottish bill, had it received royal assent, would have removed all requirements for any medical proof or assessment, and lowered the age limit to 16. It would further have introduced a three-month reflection period.
In 2023, the Department for Education released for consultation a draft Gender Questioning Children: Non-Statutory guidance for schools and colleges in England, aimed at guiding schools and colleges in England on how to respond to pupils wishing to change their gender. Civil society has expressed grave concern over these draft guidelines, the content of which primarily serves to prevent gender-questioning young people from socially transitioning. According to the guidance, schools should delay, for an unspecified amount of time, offering support to a young person after they say that they want to come out at school. The guidelines also state that schools should disclose a student’s trans or non-binary identity to their parents and allow single-sex schools to refuse trans children. The guidelines also state that other factors are to be considered when deciding whether to support the social transition of a trans student in school, including the impact on the wider school community and whether the student is neurodiverse or “influenced” by peers or social media. The government did not consult LGBTQI groups about the draft guidance in their consultation process. In response to these guidelines, ECRI has invited the relevant authorities to ensure that any guidance on transgender pupils is only issued after consultations with all key stakeholders and that the rights, well-being and safety of transgender pupils take precedence. LGBTQI NGOs have reported that, since the adoption of the guidelines, many transgender pupils no longer feel welcome at school. In addition, teaching unions around the UK have stated that this advice is unhelpful, see examples here and here. The government elected in 2024 has yet to make any announcements on how it will move forward with the draft guidance. In response to the draft guidance, LGBTQI organisations and human rights organisations around the UK founded the Supportive Schools Campaign, to highlight the potential harm that the government’s approach to trans children in school could do.
Due to delays in the guidance, a new NHS training module has been developed, independently of the Department for Education, stating that students should not be allowed to socially transition, i.e. change names, pronouns, or decide which bathroom to use, without parents’ knowledge and consent.
In 2024, the UK government published its updated legally-binding guidance for schools and colleges in England, with a section on LGBT persons that remains under review, titled “Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024”. The updated guidance fails to recognise the prevalence of transphobia and bullying in UK schools and colleges, or to provide a clear framework in relation to safeguarding trans children’s well-being and identity. Previous Keeping Children Safe In Education guidance stated,”'The fact that a child or a young person may be LGBT is not in itself an inherent risk factor for harm”. What this meant in practice was that if a pupil came out to a teacher as LGBTQI, they would not have to 'out' them to caregivers or discuss their identity with others because their identity was not cause for concern/safeguarding concern. However, the updated section in the guidance states, “A child or young person being lesbian, gay, or bisexual is not in itself an inherent risk factor for harm”. So, this framework no longer applies to trans identity, meaning that it could be treated as a cause of concern/safeguarding issue, allowing/encouraging staff to 'out' students against/without their consent. This can be seen as a violation of privacy and expose child to risk of violence as you rightfully argue later on
The guidance also refuses to recognise trans identities and conflates them with “gender questioning” ones throughout the document, and also conflates being trans with mental illness and autism. The guidance recommends that families are involved in social transition in schools, despite the potential safeguarding risks of outing students to their caregivers. The guidance uses the 2024 Cass Review as an evidentiary basis for this policy change, despite its poor and inconsistent use of evidence, pathologising approaches, and exclusion of service users and trans healthcare experts. This statutory guidance remains “under review”, while the non-statutory “Gender Questioning” guidance is reviewed. This has caused widespread confusion for teachers, with many school leaders left unsure whether to use the more trans-inclusive 2023 guidance, or else to apply the principles of the “under review” section. As a result of this widespread confusion around the country, some schools have continued their approach to LGBTQI inclusion, while others have chosen to scale it back.
In 2025. the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) interpretation of the UK Supreme Court’s 2025 judgment For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers. In its interim guidance, the EHRC states that “schools must provide separate single-sex toilets for boys and girls over the age of 8” and that it is “compulsory for them to provide single-sex changing facilities for boys and girls over the age of 11.” The guidance explicitly advises that “pupils who identify as trans girls (biological boys) should not be permitted to use the girls’ toilet or changing facilities, and that pupils who identify as trans boys (biological girls) should not be permitted to use the boys’ facilities”. Instead, it suggests that “suitable alternative provisions may be required.” This position has sparked concern among LGBTQI rights organisations, who argue that it legitimises the exclusion of trans pupils from facilities that align with their gender identity and could heighten stigma, isolation, and discrimination in educational settings.
There is no national policy regarding name use and gender recognition in schools and universities.
