post-operative male-to-female transsexual’s right to a pension at age 60

MB (Appellant) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Respondent) due to be heard in the Supreme Court on 5th and 6th of July ...

Issue

Whether the appellant is entitled to a state retirement pension from the age of 60 as a result of Council Directive 79/7.

Facts

The appellant is a post-operative male-to-female transsexual. On 2nd September 2008 the respondent decided to refuse the appellant’s claim for a State Retirement Pension (“SRP”) for the period from the day after her 60th birthday until her 65th birthday. This was on the basis that the appellant did not hold a full gender recognition certificate (“GRC”) and therefore the appellant could not be recognised as a woman for the purposes of assessing her entitlement to a SRP. In other words her entitlement was assessed as if she remained a man. Under the terms of the Gender Recognition Act 2004, she was precluded from obtaining a GRC on the basis that she remained married to a woman.

https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2014-0220.html