The Government published a draft Bill to ban conversion practices in June 2026, and the Bill is currently being scrutinised by a Joint Committee of MPs and Lords. 

On Monday 26th October the Joint Committee published a call for evidence, seeking views on how the draft Bill could be improved and how any issues in the current drafting of the Bill can be resolved. 

The deadline for submissions in Monday 16 November at 5PM. You can read more about the call for evidence here.  

Who can submit evidence: 

Anyone can respond to the call for evidence, but you must make sure your submission addresses the terms of reference.  

The call for evidence is open to both individuals and organisations.  

We strongly encourage any individuals with lived experience of undergoing or being offered conversion practices to submit evidence. Submissions can be made anonymously, if you prefer.  

We also encourage organisations who work with survivors of conversion practices or LGBTQ+ adults or young people, as well as those working in healthcare or religious settings to submit evidence. 

What to include: 

The committee have set out a number of questions to help guide submissions, but you don’t have to answer every single one. In your submissions, you should make it clear which question/s you are addressing. 

Here are some suggestions on what to include in submissions: 

• Any experiences you have of undergoing or being offered conversion practices, what this looked like, and how it affected you in the short and long term; 

• Why it is important to you that legislation to ban conversion practices is passed; 

• Evidence that conversion practices are happening in the UK today; 

• Any areas where you think the Draft bill could be improved. 

If you are an individual wishing to demonstrate your support with passing this legislation but you don’t have specific relevant experience, you might just want to address question 1(a) What are the benefits of defining conversion practices in legislation? 

For more information about the Draft Bill and some of the key issues, you can read the Ban Conversion Practices Coalition explainer here. 

What we're campaigning for  

There are five key areas of improvement that we are calling for as a coalition, which you might want to mention in your submission:  

Suppression:  

The Draft Bill’s definition of conversion practices does not include suppression. The definition appears to apply only to efforts to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Leaving out suppression means the current draft legislation would not capture a significant portion of conversion practices.  We’re campaigning for suppression to be included in the definition of a conversion practice. 

Abuse:  

The Draft Bill creates a criminal offence of ‘abusive conversion practices’. This suggests there are some conversion practices the government consider non-abusive and therefore would remain legal. This framing is deeply concerning – all conversion practices are abusive. We’re asking the Government to rethink this framing of abusive and non-abusive conversion practices. 

Consent: The distinction between abusive and non-abusive conversion practices leaves open the possibility that an individual could ‘consent’ to undergo ‘non-abusive’ conversion practices and the perpetrator would be behaving lawfully. We are clear that no one can consent to psychological harm. We’re campaigning for the inclusion of an explicit clause, either within the text of the Bill or in its explanatory notes, clarifying that consent is not a defense. 

Harm thresholds: The Draft Bill sets out that a criminal offence is only committed if the conduct causes “serious harm to the individual’s physical or mental health” or “serious alarm or distress” The prosecution will have to then prove that harm. We’re campaigning for the Government to ensure the offence does not exclude practices from criminalisation simply because actual serious harm is difficult to prove. 

Healthcare services:  The Draft Bill specifies that conduct carried out while providing health care services is not a conversion practice unless the perpetrator “acts in a way that falls far below the standards reasonably expected of a person in their position”. These clauses have raised alarm. LGBTQ+ people must be able to access healthcare services, and professionals must be able to practice with confidence. Legislation must also ensure all abuse is captured, whether perpetrated by regulated or unregulated professionals. 

We’re campaigning to improve this clause to ensure those who perpetrate abuse and those who offer pseudo-scientific so-called ‘therapy ‘are criminalised. 

General guidance on submitting written evidence to a Parliamentary Committee: 

• Keep your submission to under 3,000 words. The more concise the better. 

• Use plain English, explain technical terms where necessary and focus on the questions in the call for evidence.  

• State clearly which questions in the call for evidence you are addressing. 

• If you use any data, research or other external materials, make sure to include clear references or links. 

• Please note that submissions need to be a Word, ODT or RTF file 

You can find more guidance here. We recognise that sharing your experience may be difficult, support is available.