Embed Notice

Cis allies in the UK: Send HMRC a GDPR right to erasure request to remove your gender! Template request:

Dear Data Protection Office,

As you are no doubt aware, Article 17 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (UK GDPR) grants a "right to erasure".

It is my understanding that HMRC, jointly with DWP, has records of my gender. I also understand that HMRC claims a "legitimate interest" basis for processing these records, however neither HMRC nor DWP have been able to cite any specific legislation or regulations that currently require that information.

According to ICO guidance "It is not enough to rely on vague or generic business interests." and. You must think about specifically what you are trying to achieve with the particular processing operation.". Furthermore, when relying on this basis, your processing must be weighed against the individual's interests, rights, and freedoms.

Gender is a very personal matter to me, and UK courts have repeatedly reaffirmed that it is covered under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998, which protects my "right to respect for [my] private and family life".

Since the UK fully equalized pension ages in 2019, there is no clear, widely applicable need for HMRC or DWP to process gender information. ICO guidance states that information processing relying on a legitimate interest basis "must be a targeted and proportionate way of achieving your purpose".

Processing gender information for every taxpayer is neither targeted nor proportionate. If there were some obscure circumstances where this information were required, HMRC and/or DWP could accomplish their compliance goals in a targeted and proprotionate way by only requesting and processing gender data as needed.

As complying with my request will require you to identify my records, I am providing my details here:

Name: ____
Date of birth: ____
National Insurance Number: ____
Address: ___

Sincerely,

Email to: advice.dpa@hmrc.gov.uk

If they refuse, complain to your MP.