New guidance on single-sex spaces will ensure the protection of “people’s rights across our country”, according to the equalities minister said as she laid the code before Parliament.
The updated guidance has been published more than a year after a landmark 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.
Women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson said that the ruling had “made it clear that sex means biological sex” under the Equality Act, “and that trans people are still protected by the Act”.
Under the guidance, single-sex spaces such as changing rooms and toilets must be used on the basis of biological sex.
For example, this means that that a trans woman - a biological male who identifies as a woman - should not use female toilets or changing rooms.
The guidance also makes clear that transgender people should be offered a third or a gender-neutral space, and that leaving a trans person without access to any services or facilities would be unlikely to be proportionate and could be discriminatory.
While women’s rights campaigners said the publication of the code on Thursday must mark “an important turning point” in a long-running debate about sex and gender identity, trans rights activists have said that trans people’s “participation in public life” must be protected.
The code is more than 300 pages long, and covers nine protected characteristics including age, sex, disability, race and gender reassignment. This is the first time it has been updated in full since 2011.
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.”
The guidance also suggests it can be deemed legitimate, in some 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”.
The code states: “Evidence of such concern might include the individual’s physique or physical appearance, behaviour or concerns raised by other service users.
“However, service providers, those performing public functions and associations must keep in mind that it is not always possible to be sure of a person’s sex from their appearance.”
If someone is asked to confirm their sex, it should be done “as sensitively as possible, and must respect their privacy”, the code states.
It is said to be “unlikely to be either practical or appropriate to approach any particular individual to make enquiries about their sex in relation to facilities, such as toilets, which are incidental to the primary service”.
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”.
A draft code was handed to ministers by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) last September and the Government has faced criticism for the delay in publishing it.
In the intervening period, Ms Phillipson had argued 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 Prime Minister’s spokeswoman rejected a suggestion it was choosing to publish on the last day before Parliament breaks up for recess in an attempt to bury bad news.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “We’ve been focused on getting it right and ensuring duty bearers are able to uphold the law.”
Ms Phillipson, in a written statement to Parliament, 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, which would apply across England, Scotland and Wales has now been laid before Parliament for scrutiny from both MPs in the Commons and peers in the Lords.
While a vote would not be required to enact the code and make it statutory, either House could pass a motion to reject it within that period.
EHRC chairwoman Mary-Ann Stephenson previously said no-one is expecting there to be “toilet police” and suggested organisations with self-contained male and female toilets could make them unisex.
After the guidance was published, she acknowledged there are “strongly held views throughout our society” about balancing people’s rights in law, but described the code as providing “legally accurate, practical guidance” to service providers.
