𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Trans women must be barred from female single-sex spaces, the long-awaited updated guidance states. The code by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) was published on Thursday, more than a year after a landmark Supreme Court ruling that the definition of a woman in equality law is based on biological sex.

The guidance confirms services such as toilets and changing rooms must be used on the basis of biological sex in order to be classed as single-sex. Women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson said that ruling had “made it clear that sex means biological sex” under the Equality Act, “and that trans people are still protected by the Act”.

The Government said the new code “gives organisations clear, workable guidance which will enable them to take a pragmatic approach to protecting and serving the needs of our society” and supports service providers such as hospitals, cafes and leisure centres “in ensuring they can make practical, and ultimately sensible decisions for everyday scenarios, such as toilet provision”.

Women’s rights campaigners warned there must be “no more excuses” following the publication of the guidance.

Maya Forstater, CEO of sex-based rights charity Sex Matters, said: “Finally, there are no more excuses for the many public and private sector organisations that said they were ‘waiting for guidance’ before fixing their unlawful policies.

“The Government’s long delay in placing the EHRC’s updated code of practice before Parliament was seized on as cover by organisations that preferred to break the law than enrage trans lobby groups.

“The new guidance is long and detailed, but at its heart is a simple principle: ‘sex’ means what it says – male and female. What people call themselves and how they dress doesn’t change their sex. Neither does getting updated paperwork.

“Any business, charity or public service provider that took a wrong turn and started letting men who identify as women use women’s spaces or vice versa must now urgently fix its policies.

“Words and signs that say ‘men only’ or ‘women only’ must mean exactly what they say. Organisations that don’t want to get into legal trouble should seize on this opportunity for a reset.

“The equality regulator has put women’s rights back where they belong: at the heart of its guidance.”

Tory shadow equalities minister Claire Coutinho said the new code marked “a welcome step forward in ensuring the rights of women and girls that were so hard-won in the Supreme Court last year”.

She added: “However, we cannot gloss over the fact that it comes after months of dither and delay. There is still much work to do to make sure every organisation, from the NHS to schools to charities, is complying with the law.

“The truth is, Bridget Phillipson has been too distracted by furthering her own political career than standing up for women and girls across this country.”

In a written statement to Parliament, Ms Phillipson said: “The current code was produced in 2011, and there have been significant developments since then, including the Supreme Court ruling in For Women Scotland, resulting in the EHRC wanting to update the Code.

“Following last year’s Supreme Court ruling, the draft Code’s content on sex and gender reassignment has changed substantially from the 2011 version.

“The ruling made it clear that sex means biological sex for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 and that trans people are still protected by the Act under the protected characteristic of ‘gender reassignment’.”

She added: “This Government is proud of the Equality Act 2010 and will protect and uphold it; this Code is an important step in ensuring that organisations across Great Britain have clear guidance regarding its implementation, protecting people’s rights across our country.”

The code of practice for services, public functions and associations – which is more than 300 pages long – covers nine protected characteristics, including sex, age, disability, race and gender reassignment.

It aims to guide businesses and other organisations on how to comply with equality law.

The guidance reads: “In separate or single-sex services, a trans man will be excluded from the men-only service because his sex is female, and a trans woman will be excluded from the women-only service because her sex is male.”

But the code also states that for use of facilities such as toilets, which the commission says are “necessary for everybody”, it would be “very unlikely to be proportionate to put a trans person in a position where there is no service that they are allowed to use”.

The guidance also suggests it can be deemed legitimate, in limited circumstances, to ask someone to confirm what their sex is if “there is clear evidence of an issue with members of the opposite sex accessing or seeking to access the single or separate-sex service or association”.

When it comes to sport, the guidance confirms trans people “should not be included in single-sex or separate-sex competitions for the sex with which they identify”.

Labour has faced criticism for the delay in publishing the guidance, following the handover of a draft code to ministers last September.

Ms Phillipson had insisted the Government was “taking the time to get this right” and said it was both important that “women have access to a single-sex provision” and that trans people “should be treated with dignity and respect”.

The updated guidance was drawn up in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling in April 2025, which said the words “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.

But the Trans+ Solidarity Alliance argued the new code has an “exclusionary core” and could risk “pushing trans people yet further out of public life”.