Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 1
1
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We consider the reduction in the fee for a Gender Recognition Certificate from £140 to...
Recommendation
We consider the reduction in the fee for a Gender Recognition Certificate from £140 to £5 to be a step in the right direction. This new nominal amount will however contribute virtually nothing to the running of the Gender Recognition Certificate system and appears tokenistic. The Government’s consultation showed that there is support for removing the fee altogether. We recommend that the Government provide a response to this report explaining its rationale for reducing the fee from £140 to £5.
Paragraph Reference:
31
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
7. We reject the claim that the fee reduction was ‘tokenistic’. In the National LGBT Survey, 34% of transgender respondents told us that the cost of applying for a certificate was holding them back from doing so. The 2018 consultation also found that 58% of respondents were in favour of removing the £140 fee. We reduced the fee to £5 rather than removing the fee entirely as the latter would have required primary legislation and taken more time. Instead we were able to quickly reduce the fee through secondary legislation, less than a year after our response was published, making the application process far more affordable. 8. Since the fee was reduced, we have seen a marked increase in the number of applications; there has been a 49% increase in GRC applications between July to September 2020 and July to September 2021; and a 72% increase in GRC applications between January to March 2021 and April to June 2021. This is a clear step towards meeting our commitment to make the gender recognition system more accessible.