Six London councils defy EHRC guidance by pledging to maintain trans-inclusive services

Six London boroughs have pledged to maintain trans-inclusive services despite new guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on access to single-sex spaces.

In a joint letter issued on the day the EHRC’s new guidance came into force, leaders of the Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat-run boroughs of Lewisham, Hackney, Lambeth, Waltham Forest, Haringey and Southwark said they would not require council staff to “police” access to public spaces.

The councils argue that the guidance could leave transgender and non-binary residents feeling targeted and excluded from public life. They said they would resist what they described as a “harmful” approach to the rights of trans people.

The EHRC guidance states that access to single-sex spaces and services, including toilets, changing rooms and rape crisis centres, should generally be determined by biological sex, rather than gender identity.

The updated Code of Practice is not itself legally binding. Instead, it provides organisations with guidance on how to comply with the Equality Act following the Supreme Court’s April 2025 ruling that the protected characteristic of “sex” under the legislation refers to biological sex.

In their letter to women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson, the six council leaders said: “It is simply unacceptable that the Code of Practice is harmful to the rights of trans people and will make their exclusion from public life more likely, not less.

“This will feel like an attack to the countless trans people in our communities who are simply trying to live their lives in safety and wish to be treated with respect.”

The councils called on Phillipson to ensure that the code could not be “interpreted to exclude Trans+ people from services.”

The dispute has already extended beyond London. Green-led Bristol City Council has said its services will continue to allow trans women to access certain single-sex spaces where those facilities are described as “single-gender” or “trans-inclusive”, rather than explicitly as female-only spaces.

Meanwhile, legal action has reportedly been initiated against Hackney council over allegations that it has failed to provide female-only services.

The Good Law Project has also threatened the government with legal action, arguing that the guidance amounts to a “blanket prohibition on trans-inclusive gendered services.”