Single-sex spaces such as toilets and changing rooms should be used according to biological sex, new guidance from Britain’s equality watchdog has confirmed.
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The updated code of practice, produced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and approved by ministers, states that a transgender woman should not use female toilets or changing facilities because she is biologically male.
Instead, the guidance says transgender people should be offered alternative facilities, including gender-neutral or third spaces where possible.
The guidance follows last year’s landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, which found that the definition of a woman under the Equality Act is based on biological sex.
New rules for public services
The code of practice outlines how businesses, associations and public services should organise facilities ranging from gyms and shopping centres to hospitals and restaurants.
It also states that denying transgender people access to all facilities would likely be disproportionate and could amount to discrimination.
The guidance recommends that gender-neutral toilets and changing rooms should include self-contained lockable cubicles with floor-to-ceiling walls and wash basins. The EHRC said organisations could also choose to allow transgender people to use disabled toilets.
Where premises only have separate male and female toilets, the guidance says they could instead be redesignated as unisex facilities.
The code, which runs to more than 300 pages, has now been placed before parliament. MPs and peers have 40 days to object before it becomes statutory guidance.
The EHRC first submitted the draft guidance to the government in September 2025. Ministers initially said the issue would be handled “thoroughly and carefully” before releasing the document eight months later.
Women and Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson said the government’s aim was to ensure people could live free from discrimination and harassment.
“Our focus has always been making sure organisations have clear, accessible guidance on how to implement the law,” she said.
Debate over impact on trans people
EHRC chair Mary-Ann Stephenson said she hoped the public would approach the code “with an open mind”.
“I think we do need to broaden out the debates, and we need to start from a point of saying, how do we make sure that everyone has access to the services they need,” she said.
At the Watershed arts cinema in Bristol, chief executive Clare Reddington said delays to the guidance had caused confusion and misinformation.
The venue, which has gender-neutral toilets alongside separate male and female facilities, won a Loo of the Year award in 2024.
Reddington described the impact on transgender people as “toxic” and said many had been waiting for clarity on what the guidance would mean for “their ability to live a full public life”.
“I would say that designing toilets for everyone is great for business,” she added.
Clare Reddington
Campaign groups divided
Gender-critical campaign group Sex Matters welcomed the guidance.
Its co-founder Maya Forstater said organisations could no longer claim they were waiting for official clarification before changing policies.
“The new guidance is long and detailed, but at its heart is a simple principle: ‘sex’ means what it says – male and female,” she said.
However, transgender rights group TransActual said the guidance reduced protections for transgender people and the wider LGBT community.
The group said it would continue campaigning for equal access to public life and would publish a fuller response after reviewing the code in detail.
Employment lawyer Joanne Moseley of Irwin Mitchell said businesses were increasingly seeking legal advice on how to respond to the changes.
She said clear signage and the availability of gender-neutral facilities would be important, but warned that organisations could still face discrimination claims even before the guidance formally comes into force.
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Adapted by ASEAN Now. Source 22 May 2026
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