Gender Clarity on Women's Spaces May Take Months Amid Equalities Watchdog 'Mess'

Formal guidance on how organisations should implement the supreme court ruling on gender might not be fully signed off for months, officials and MPs have warned, amid increasing worries about the capability of the government's equalities watchdog.

- Peter Walker

While the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has promised to complete the process by the end of July, a series of insiders have said they believe this might not happen until after the watchdog's controversial chair, Kishwer Falkner, is replaced in November.

Some MPs are increasingly worried about what one said could now be months of "limbo" for organisations and transgender people.

The concerns are in part due to worries about the ability of Falkner, who was appointed by Liz Truss, to be seen as a fair arbiter of how public bodies should implement the court decision that "woman" in the Equality Act refers only to a biological woman.

The guidance will attempt to navigate a path for the parallel needs and rights around single-sex spaces such as toilets, changing rooms and associations, as well as for trans people, many of whom fear the supreme court ruling could in effect exclude them from the public realm.

Officials also expect a very high volume of submissions to the six-week consultation process, with some predicting thousands of responses, which could swamp the relatively thinly staffed organisation.