Bridget Phillipson, the Minister for Women and Equalities, said the government supports the protection of single-sex spaces based on biological sex and intends to publish the guidance after the elections. The updated EHRC Code of Practice, which incorporates the ruling, is with Phillipson for approval after the commission made adjustments following government feedback. Close to 400 public bodies across England and Wales remain in breach of the Supreme Court ruling, according to multiple reports.
Major City firms including Co-operative Bank, Coventry Building Society, NatWest, and Admiral still allow transgender staff to use toilets based on self-identified gender. A Sex Matters investigation found 15 banks, insurers, consultancy firms and building societies would not confirm restricting single-sex facilities to biological sex. Trans people across the UK report increased scrutiny, questioning, and exclusion in gendered spaces since the ruling.
Having considered this feedback alongside consultation responses and further legal analysis, we have made adjustments where they help the code provide legally accurate, practical guidance that is useful to duty bearers.
Around 53% of trans respondents have been stopped, questioned or harassed in gendered spaces, compared to 17% of cis respondents. One in four trans adults are reportedly planning to leave the UK, according to TransActual. A report by Murray Blackburn Mackenzie found leading women's charities may be breaking the law by continuing to allow transgender women to use their services.
The EHRC's interim advice under Kishwer Falkner reportedly said trans people should not use toilets matching their lived gender, but that advice was subsequently withdrawn, according to a source familiar with the matter. ' However, the delay in publishing the guidance has drawn criticism. ' Graham Linehan accused Labour of being 'too frightened' of transgender activists to roll out guidance.
This government has always supported the protection of single-sex spaces based on biological sex.
Sex Matters said the government needs to show leadership by fixing non-compliant policies in the public sector. Ten sports organisations including Parkrun face potential legal action over transgender inclusion policies. Parkrun allows competitors to identify by gender rather than sex.
Baroness Sharron Davies described it as 'a true scandal' that men are still allowed to compete against women in sport a year after the ruling.
It is a true scandal that men are still allowed to compete against women in sport, a year after the For Women Scotland Supreme Court ruling.
The government needs to show leadership by fixing non-compliant policies in the public sector.
It’s extraordinary that a year after the supreme court judgment, and seven months after the independent regulator first submitted its code of practice, the government has found another excuse.