More than half of local authorities are still failing to comply with the ‘crystal clear’ Supreme Court ruling on biological sex almost a year after the landmark judgment.
Some 159 of the 317 councils in England are still ‘waiting for guidance’, despite the Equalities Minister saying that the ruling was ‘crystal, crystal clear’.
Just 19 local authorities are confident their policies are legally compliant and at least 17 councils have policies which are ‘likely to be unlawful’, according to a new report.
Astonishingly, some councils even ‘made it clear they did not agree with the Supreme Court judgment’ and have maintained trans-inclusive policies, it adds.
It comes as Bridget Phillipson said on Sunday that the landmark ruling ‘set out very, very clearly what sex means’, adding: ‘It means biological sex.’
The Equalities Minister told Sky News: ‘My message to employers, for the avoidance of any doubt, is that they should understand the Supreme Court ruling and take action.’
Women’s rights groups have criticised the ‘delay and inertia’ and said councils are showing a ‘scandalous disregard for the rights, safety and dignity of women and girls’.
The Women’s Rights Network (WRN) submitted Freedom of Information requests to 317 councils, unitary authorities and London boroughs to produce the report. Its investigation found that more than half are ‘misunderstanding or misrepresenting’ the law.
A new report by the Women’s Rights Network (WRN) highlights the ‘delay and inertia’ of councils that are showing a ‘scandalous disregard for the rights, safety and dignity of women and girls’
Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson (pictured) said that last April’s landmark Supreme Court gender ruling is ‘crystal, crystal clear’ that sex ‘means biological sex’
As a result, they are ‘failing female employees and service users and exposing themselves to potentially expensive litigation’, the report adds.
Councils deliver services for women and girls including education and children’s services, leisure centres, rape and domestic violence services and accommodation for vulnerable, homeless women.
WRN founder Heather Binning said it is ‘shameful’ that so many local authorities are still failing to comply with the judgment as they have a ‘moral and legal duty to protect women’s rights’.
She added: ‘It is now 10 months since the Supreme Court confirmed what every right-thinking person has always known – sex means sex, not a self-declared gender identity. There is no need for further guidance, the law is the law.’
WRN has highlighted more than a dozen councils whose policies are ‘problematic’ or ‘fail to uphold women’s rights’. Among them is Coventry Council, which the report states has ‘no plans to review its policies and practices in light of the Supreme Court judgment’.
Norwich Council ‘told its staff to keep using the toilets with which they feel most comfortable’, the report adds, while the London Borough of Haringey said it ‘has no plans to review its policies’.
Cath Dyson, one of the report’s authors said, the findings left her ‘horrified’. She added: ‘This is wrong on so many levels. Local authorities are failing the women they represent, they are failing the women who work for them and they are failing the women who use their services.’
The UK’s highest court ruled unanimously last April that sex in the Equality Act refers to biological women and men and not to self-identification or a gender recognition certificate (GRC).
Following this the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) issued interim guidance to ensure that service providers enforce single-sex spaces based on biology. However this was later withdrawn after updated guidance was submitted to ministers.
Organisations are still awaiting final guidance from the EHRC, which requires ministerial approval and would only come into force 40 days after the Government has laid the draft code in Parliament.
Ms Phillipson is yet to announce if it will be accepted or when it will be laid before Parliament. The Equalities Minister has faced accusations that she is blocking the guidance after she failed to sign it off for more than four months, accusations that she denies.
In conclusion the report states: ‘An obvious first step is for Ms Phillipson to do her job and publish the EHRC guidance. There is no excuse or good reason for further delay, because the sooner the EHRC guidance is shared, the sooner this mess can be fixed.’
Coventry Council, Norwich Council and the London Borough of Haringey did not respond to requests for comment.
