Equality and Human Rights Commission

Transsexual people: taking a complaint forward.

This page explains what to do if you believe your right to privacy under Section 22 of the Gender Recognition Act has been flouted.

Your rights under Section 22 of the Gender Recognition Act are explained here.

If you believe that someone acting in an official capacity has unlawfully disclosed details of your application for gender recognition or your gender reassignment history then you need to act promptly in order to have a chance of pressing your case.

Breach of Section 22 of the Gender Recognition Act is dealt with by the Police and the Magistrates Court. In order for a judgement to be made in your favour the Police must collect evidence to support the charge.

Magistrates cannot hear any case of this kind if it comes to the court six months or more after the offence was committed. Therefore, it is essential that you complain to the Police as soon as possible in order for them to complete their enquiries and brief the Crown Prosecution Service so that they can determine whether there is a good case to proceed.

If you have qualms about approaching the public desk of your local police station then look on their web site for details of how to make LGBT complaints. Alternatively you can ring up and ask for an appointment to meet their LGBT Liaison Officer. Most of Britain’s 50 Police forces have diversity officers and policies which commit them to understanding how to support trans people.

Whichever officer you speak to will need to take a statement from you, describing the circumstances and facts of how you believe the unlawful disclosure took place. If you have any written evidence (e.g. from emails or photocopies of forms you completed) then these will become part of the evidence.

The Police will need to investigate your complaint. That means that officers will probably visit the organisation and will interview relevant people, take statements and collect any available evidence.

The Police don’t carry out prosecutions. Their job is to collect evidence to present to the Crown Prosecution Service, who will then take the case forward. You should remind the parties, however, that time is of the essence, as explained above.