2 days ago
Equalities watchdog guidance delayed until later in year
Guidance from Britain's equalities watchdog including on trans peoples' use of certain spaces is likely to be delayed until later this year.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said it received more than 50,000 responses to its code of practice consultation.
The commission had been expected to present final guidance to women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson by the time Parliament broke up for summer next week.
But in an update on Tuesday, the regulator said it was continuing to review the thousands of responses and would be amending its draft code over the summer.
In an update on its website, the commission said: 'We received over 50,000 responses to our code of practice consultation.
'We are working at pace to review these and will use our findings to amend the draft code of practice over the summer. Keep checking this page for further updates.'
The commission had earlier tripled the length of time for feedback, from an original proposal for a two-week consultation, following criticism from some that this was too short a timeframe.
Following a Supreme Court ruling in April, which said the words 'woman' and 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex, the commission issued draft guidance on a range of topics, including trans peoples' participation in sport and use of toilets.
According to the draft, a birth certificate could be requested by a sports club or hospital if there is 'genuine concern' about what biological sex a person is.
Elsewhere, the draft code said trans people can be excluded from competitive sport 'when necessary for reasons of safety or fair competition', and gave an example of how some services might be able to adapt to 'offer toilets in individual lockable rooms to be used by both sexes'.
The code stated that a service provided only to women and trans women or only to men and trans men 'is not a separate-sex or single-sex service' under the Equality Act and could amount to unlawful sex discrimination against those of the opposite sex who are not allowed to use it.
Commission chairwoman Baroness Kishwer Falkner previously said there was an 'obvious' demand since the court's ruling for 'authoritative guidance' for a range of providers from businesses to hospitals to sports clubs.
