EHRC acts over non-compliance with single-sex space law

Organisations with policies allowing people to use toilets based on gender self-identification have been instructed to remove or amend them by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

The EHRC is taking regulatory action against 19 organisations for wrongly suggesting that men and women who say they are transgender have a legal right to access single-sex spaces and services “according to their self-identified gender”.

The previous Government submitted 404 examples of “potentially problematic guidance” to the watchdog for review in relation to non-compliance with EHRC interim guidance on the practical implications of the Supreme Court ruling on biological sex.

‘Misrepresent the law’

Baroness Falkner, Chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said it acted where it had “identified policies that misrepresent the law”.

According to the EHRC, the affected organisations — which span policing, education, health care and public services — “must respond with assurances that policies will be withdrawn” and “set out any proposed timetable to revise their policies”.

It added: “The EHRC will monitor compliance and consider further regulatory action if necessary.”

The watchdog is currently updating its code of practice which will address the issue of single-sex spaces following the Supreme Court judgment that the definition of a woman is determined by biology not ideology for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010.

Non-compliance

Whistleblowers from University College London have warned that the institution still allows biological men to use single-sex spaces reserved for women.

Its guidance states: “On campus, trans students can use ‘men only’ or ‘women only’ changing rooms or toilets according to which one they feel most comfortable in, or that they feel is most appropriate for them.”

Guidance on HMRC’s intranet also recently came under fire from gender-critical campaigners for advising employees who have ‘transitioned’ to “use the toilet appropriate to your new gender”.

And in Scotland, the City of Edinburgh Council has issued new EHRC compliant guidance for single-sex spaces in schools; it said the Scottish Government’s position on trans-identifying pupils was “in conflict with the law”.