Appeal lodged against High Court decision on EHRC trans guidance

The Good Law Project is supporting three claimants in taking a High Court ruling regarding the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) interim guidance on transgender rights to the Court of Appeal.

This legal challenge follows a decision on 13 February by High Court Justice Swift, which addressed the lawfulness of the EHRC’s code of practice. The initial judgement affirmed that service providers are not required to exclude transgender individuals from facilities corresponding to their gender identity, such as toilets and changing rooms. This finding contradicted the EHRC’s previous assertions. However, the ruling simultaneously maintained that single-sex spaces within workplace environments could remain exclusionary toward transgender employees.

Following the judgement, Justice Swift denied the claimants permission to apply for judicial appeal, stating that the proposed grounds lacked a realistic prospect of success—an outcome The Good Law Project noted was anticipated. Consequently, the legal advocacy group is now assisting the claimants in escalating the matter directly to the Court of Appeal.

The appeal is based on five specific grounds. Central to the argument is the contention that the High Court’s approach to human rights protections was defective. In a statement released on 23 February, The Good Law Project argued that the court failed to adequately recognize the positive obligations under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. They assert that the current ruling risks placing transgender and intersex people in an ambiguous legal position regarding their gender recognition.

Additional grounds for the appeal include claims that the court erred by finding the EHRC guidance accurate despite its own findings on the law, failed to interpret the guidance according to its ordinary meaning, misconstrued the 1992 Regulations, and failed to identify breaches of the EHRC’s mandatory duties under the Equality Act 2006.

This legal action occurs against a backdrop of shifting regulatory advice. In October, the EHRC withdrew interim guidance published in April 2025, which had advised that employers and service providers were required to exclude transgender people from gendered spaces. A subsequent draft code, submitted to the UK government in September 2025, remains unpublished and unapproved.