The equalities and human rights watchdog has said it is ‘working at pace’ to update its code of practice for public bodies following the Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of a ‘woman’.
The Supreme Court has ruled that a Gender Recognition Certificate, a legal document that officially recognizes an individual's acquired gender, does not change a person’s legal sex for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010.
Responding to the ruling, Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), said: ‘We will take the outcome of this appeal into account in our ongoing work as the regulator of the Equality Act. That includes the development of our revised Code of Practice which, subject to ministerial approval, is expected to be laid before Parliament before the summer recess.’
She continued: ‘We will be working at pace to incorporate the implications of this judgment into the updated Code, which supports service providers, public bodies and associations to understand their duties under the Equality Act and put them into practice.’
