'Risk' over secondary ID passes for gender-fluid Whitehall staff

Critics sound the alarm over ‘security risk’ as Whitehall offers secondary ID passes to gender-fluid staff whose identities and appearance ‘may change daily’

• HMRC posted announcement last week telling colleagues about policy from ‘the Trans+ Staff Diversity Network’
• It said colleagues who are ‘gender fluid/non-binary/multigender and/or transgender’ may express gender ‘differently at different times’
• Told they could apply for secondary pass or identity card to assist ‘bringing their whole self to work’

The Civil Service is under fire for offering ‘secondary passes’ to gender-fluid colleagues whose identities might change daily, which critics say poses security risks.

HMRC posted an announcement on its intranet last week telling colleagues about a policy from the ‘Trans+ Staff Diversity Network’.

It said that colleagues who are ‘gender fluid/non-binary/multigender and/or transgender’ may express their gender ‘differently at different times’. To assist them in ‘bringing their whole self to work’, they were told they could apply for a secondary pass or identity card.

The Mail on Sunday understands that both passes with different photographs are linked to the same staff number. Sources added that the policy already exists in other Government offices. Officials said HMRC introduced the policy in 2021, but sources told the MoS they learned of this only last week.

Pictured: City of Westminster (file photo). HMRC posted an announcement on its intranet last week telling colleagues about a policy from the ‘Trans+ Staff Diversity Network’

Heather Binning, from the Women’s Rights Network, told the MoS: ‘There are clear security implications and that should be very worrying. How is it acceptable for a person to change their appearance on some days and gain a second pass? It’s open to abuse.

‘How would an employer monitor promotions, pay gaps or treatment of staff if they don’t record their demographics accurately, either?’

A spokesman for HMRC said: ‘This is not new policy. It is in place to help protect everyone’s security and ensure all colleagues feel welcome in the workplace.’

HMRC’s announcement last week said colleagues who are ‘gender fluid/non-binary/multigender and/or transgender’ may express their gender ‘differently at different times’

It comes amid news that foreigners who ‘self-ID’ as transgender may be stopped from legally changing their gender in England and Wales. Westminster has signalled it will refuse to accept new Scottish gender recognition certificates (GRCs) south of the border if a Bill is passed by the Scottish Parliament next week. The Bill would let someone in Scotland ‘self-identify’ as transgender without medical checks, lower the age limit to legally change gender to 16 and shorten the period a trans person has to live in this gender before switching.

Currently in the UK, someone applying for a GRC must provide two medical reports to prove they suffer from gender dysphoria. But trans people from countries on an approved list do not need to do so.

UK Government sources said that in order to stop people travelling to Scotland to get a GRC and then returning to England, they hoped to update this list to exclude some countries which allow self-ID, so that Westminster ‘can’t be accused of treating Scotland differently’.

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