Government clarifies guidance on single-sex spaces

The Government has published long-awaited updated guidance on single-sex spaces, with equalities minister Bridget Phillipson saying the new code is designed to protect “people’s rights across our country”. According to the Government, the revised code is intended to provide organisations with “clear, workable guidance” to help them make practical decisions around single-sex spaces and services. Alasdair Hobbs, employment partner with national law firm Excello Law said “The publication of this updated Code of Practice is a welcome and long overdue moment of clarity for employers and service providers across England, Scotland and Wales. Since the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in April 2025, which confirmed that "woman" and "sex" in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological sex, organisations have been left to navigate a period of genuine legal uncertainty. This Code begins to resolve that.

He also noted “Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson is right to make clear that biological sex protections and trans protections are not in competition with one another. Trans people retain clear protection under the Equality Act through the characteristic of gender reassignment, and that matters. At the same time, single-sex spaces in specific contexts (refuges for survivors of domestic abuse, competitive sport, intimate care and medical settings) exist for legitimate and important reasons that the law is right to uphold. A well-implemented Code should make both of those things achievable, and that has to be the right outcome.”

Hobbs emphasised that “For employers and service providers, the practical work now begins.” This is reinforced by the fact that the code is “not a document to skim”. At over 300 pages, it represents a substantial overhaul of guidance that had not been updated since 2011, covering nine protected characteristics and not just sex and gender reassignment. He stated that the “40-day parliamentary scrutiny period before the Code comes into force is a genuine window of opportunity to review existing policies, identify gaps, and take specialist employment law advice before making any changes. Organisations that act now will be far better placed than those who wait.”