A statutory code of practice on how the Equality Act 2010 applies to services took effect in England, Scotland and Wales on 5 August 2026. It changes the advice service providers are given about single-sex facilities, and for a trans traveller it changes what to expect at a public toilet, a changing room or a leisure centre.
The Equality Act 2010 (Code of Practice on Services, Public Functions and Associations) (Commencement) Order 2026 was made on 14 July 2026 and brought the new code into force on 5 August, replacing the version that had stood since 2011. It follows the UK Supreme Court judgment of 16 April 2025 in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers, in which a panel of five held unanimously that man, woman and sex in the Equality Act carry their biological meaning.
What the code says
Where a provider offers a single-sex or separate-sex service, the code says it should be run on the basis of biological sex, and that excluding a trans person from facilities that do not match their birth sex is not unlawful discrimination because of gender reassignment. It also says that a provider who does admit trans people to such a facility makes it mixed sex, and can then no longer rely on the single-sex exception in Schedule 3 of the Act.
The code sets a limit of its own on that. For services everybody needs, toilets among them, it says it is very unlikely to be proportionate to leave a trans person with no facility they are allowed to use at all. The answers it suggests are male and female provision alongside gender-neutral provision, or individual lockable rooms with a handbasin that anyone can use.
It is guidance, not law
The code creates no new legal obligations and does not change the Act. It sets out how the Commission reads the existing law, which a court or tribunal is expected to take into account, and which is what most providers will act on.
Where it applies, and where it does not
England, Scotland and Wales. Not Northern Ireland, because the relevant Parts of the Equality Act do not extend there and Northern Ireland keeps its own equality legislation. A traveller moving between Belfast and Glasgow is moving between two regimes.
In Scotland the Scottish Government said on 5 August 2026 that the Equality Act is largely reserved to the UK Parliament and that it remains the responsibility of individual organisations to interpret and comply with their obligations under it.
Two challenges are pending
TransLucent says its solicitors sent a pre-action letter to the Commission and the Secretary of State on 3 July 2026, arguing the code was unlawfully formulated. Good Law Project announced on 5 August 2026 that it is supporting a trans person and a trans-inclusive organisation, represented by Leigh Day, in a second challenge; among its grounds is that the code leaves out the positive action provisions of the Act. Both were at pre-action stage when this was written on 28 August 2026, so neither has been tested in court.
An earlier case went the other way. On 13 February 2026 the High Court dismissed a challenge to the interim update the Commission had published in April 2025, and that decision is under appeal.
What it means for a trip
The code addresses service providers and associations, so its reach is public toilets, changing rooms and leisure centres rather than the door policy of a bar, and nothing in it requires a private venue to change who it admits. A trans visitor should expect provision to vary by operator and by building, so the answer at a station or a council-run pool may differ from the one next door.
The wider legal position for the country is on our United Kingdom country page. The direction of travel is not the same everywhere in Europe: in March 2026 we reported that the EU's top court ruled that member states must allow legal gender recognition, a judgment that does not bind the United Kingdom.
