Impact of the Supreme Court Ruling and EHRC Code of Practice on Women's Organisations Survey

Understanding the sector's response to the EHRC Code of Practice

The Equality and Human Rights Commission's draft Code of Practice on single-sex services was laid before Parliament on 21 May 2026, following the Supreme Court's ruling in For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers that "sex" in the Equality Act 2010 means biological sex.

We know many women's organisations have been waiting for this guidance before reviewing their policies.

This short survey asks where your organisation is now, and what you're planning to do next.

Your responses will help WRC understand the range of positions across the sector and shape the support and resources we develop in response.

Findings will be published in aggregated, anonymised form.

The survey should take no more than 2 minutes to complete.

Please complete the survey by midnight on June 28th.

This survey is for women's sector organisations only.
Please only submit one response per organisation.

Thanks!

Privacy notice

This survey is run by:

Women's Resource Centre (WRC)

72-75 Red Lion Street, London. WC1R 4NA

admin@wrc.org.uk.

We are the data controller for the information you provide.

What we're collecting and why

We are collecting your survey responses to better understand how women's voluntary and community organisations are responding to the EHRC's draft Code of Practice on single-sex services. The information will be used to inform WRC's policy work and sector support, and findings may be published in aggregated, anonymised form.

Providing your organisation's name is optional and we are not asking you for your contact details.

Our lawful basis

We are processing this data on the basis of legitimate interests. We have assessed that our interest in understanding the sector's response to significant legal developments outweighs any privacy impact, given that participation is voluntary and no sensitive personal data is required.

Who we share it with

Aggregated, anonymised findings may be shared with partners, funders, and in public reports. We will not publish any identifiable information about your organisation or individual respondents when publishing survey results.

How long we keep it

We will retain survey responses for 2 years after the close of the survey, after which they will be securely deleted.

Your rights

You have the right to access, correct, or request deletion of any personal data you have provided. To exercise these rights or raise a concern, contact us at admin@wrc.org.uk. If you remain dissatisfied, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

1.If you consider yourselves part of the women's sector, how would you, at this moment, best describe yourselves?(Required.)

A single sex women's organisation

A trans inclusive women's organisation

Open to all, but with some women-only services

Other (please specify)

2.What's the name of your organisation? (Optional — we will not publish individual organisation names)

3.Please tick any of these options that apply to your organisation.(Required.)

We have an existing policy that explicitly defines our service as single-sex

We have an existing policy that explicitly includes trans women

We have always operated as a women-only service, but have never formally documented this (*this means your service is women-only in practice, but you don't have a written policy or governing document that says so)

We admit trans women in practice, but have no written policy stating this (*this means trans women access your services, but this isn't formally set out anywhere in your policies or governing documents)

We used to be women-only, but became open to all in the last 5 years

We haven't had to address this directly yet and have no policy either way

We're unsure what our current position is

4."In response to the new EHRC Code of Practice, our organisation has or will..." (tick all that apply)(Required.)

Review/ed our policies, but no immediate action to be taken until the Code is in force

Seek/sought legal advice before making any changes

Formally confirm/ed our service operates on a biological sex basis (*this means, if you haven't done so already, documenting in your policies that your service is restricted to biological women, even if this has always been your practice)

Review/ed and, if necessary, amend/ed our governing documents (*the Supreme Court ruling means "women" in the Equality Act already refers to biological women in law. However, if your governing documents use the word "gender" rather than "sex", or contain language explicitly extending your beneficiary group beyond biological women, such as "women and trans women" or "those who identify as women", then you may need to amend them to ensure they are consistent with how you now intend to operate)

Remove/d single-sex designation and reframe/d as a mixed-sex service (*this applies if your organisation describes/d itself as single-sex but wants to remain open to trans women. You would need to update your policies and potentially your governing documents to reflect this - with legal advice)

Continue/d operating as we are - the Code doesn't change anything for us (*e.g. if you operate under the single-sex exception and only offer services to biological women anyway, or if you were mixed sex previously and remain so now)

We're still uncertain what this means for our organisation

5.What would help your organisation most right now?

A plain English summary of what the Code means for organisations like ours

Access to legal advice

A peer discussion with other women's organisations

Guidance from the Charity Commission

Other (please specify)