Overview

• An open letter signed by over 650 organisations, including Ben & Jerry’s, Lush and Lucy & Yak, calls the draft guidance "unworkable" and warns it would cause "significant economic harm."
• The Equality and Human Rights Commission has submitted its updated Code of Practice on services to Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson, with the government saying it will consider the draft and, if approved, lay it before Parliament.
• The draft states that services open to women and trans women, or to men and trans men, are not classed as single‑sex under the Equality Act.
• Signatories warn compliance could require costly retrofits or shifts to gender‑neutral provision, force intrusive checks that risk breaching Article 8 privacy rights, and expose especially SMEs to increased litigation.
• The guidance follows a Supreme Court ruling defining sex in the Equality Act by biological criteria; Lush pledged to resist trans‑exclusionary policies, and EHRC chair Baroness Kishwer Falkner said translating the ruling into practical steps will be difficult for providers.