What is the real cost to business of ignoring equality law?
The government is stalling on laying the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s updated code of practice for service providers before Parliament for approval, demanding a regulatory impact assessment to understand the “the potential impact on businesses, public functions and services” of the revised guidance. The EHRC has updated the code based on the Supreme Court’s April 2025 judgment clarifying sex-based terms in the Equality Act 2010.
A government source said: “Any suggestion the government is delaying is total nonsense” and: “It would be catastrophic for single-sex services to follow guidance that wasn’t legally sound and then place them in legal jeopardy again.”
This is irresponsible. Duty bearers must follow the Equality Act 2010 right now. Updating the statutory guidance to accurately reflect recent case law can only help them. It is the existing guidance, dating from 2011, that is known to be legally unsound, and is being used to confuse.
The push for a regulatory impact assessment came from a group of backbench Labour MPs who warned the government of “chaos for firms over gender recognition advice”. They said they had been contacted by “large numbers of companies” alarmed at the implications of the guidance, citing significant potential costs and a “minefield” of competing legal rights.
Who were these companies? The Trans Solidarity Alliance, a project involving Stonewall’s ex-CEO Nancy Kelley and the Good Law Project’s community outreach lead, Jess O’Thomson, provided the MPs with a letter signed by “650 businesses”.
Five years ago, Nancy Kelley was able to persuade major companies to sign an open letter in support of gender self-ID. Signatories then included Disney, BP, Expedia, Microsoft, Sky, Aviva, Sony, the Financial Times and Warner Bros as well as the British Army, the charity Marie Curie and several universities, tech companies and major charities. Big law firms Baker Mackenzie, Clifford Chance, Hogan Lovells, Linklaters and Pinsent Masons were also represented.
This year’s letter reveals that the big companies have all gone. It is a long list of sole traders and micro-businesses. Less Disney, more Mickey Mouse. There are a few student unions and independent pubs on the list, as well as activist businesses Lush and Ben & Jerry’s. But “queer”-themed businesses, LGBT trainers, tattoo artists, botox technicians, counsellors, content creators, consultants and crafts businesses feature heavily. Here is a selection:
Alchemy by Abbie – Liverpool-based business offering one-to-one Angelic Reiki Healing and Angel Readings
Bracken and Paws – Etsy seller making custom attire for dogs
Blooming Queer – a wellness coach for independent queer creatives
Cheryl Waves Vinyl – Bristol record shop
Crumbs and Doilies – a Soho cake shop
FM Sings – a one-person singing business run by the same “FM” as Optics 3D
Frances Celebrates You – a wedding celebrant
Hot metal works – an artistic blacksmith in Surrey
Insert Here prosthetics – a one-person business offering handmade gender-affirming prosthetics
Livingstone Textiles – an online fabric store
Liverpool Queer Minds – Rach (she/they), a counsellor and queer activist
Joy by Sophie – an “aesthetic clinic” based in Chorlton
Kerece Peters – East London jewellery maker
Milk It Digital – a Devon-based SEO consultant
Mimo Brighton – market stall selling stickers and ceramics
Misfits Workout – an aerobics instructor in Colchester
Optics 3D – a two-person company selling 3D glasses run by Colin and “FM”
Pretty Vacant Collective – a Liverpool hair and nail parlour
Stakehaus – a food van in Camden, Brighton and Covent Garden
Vivacity Rail Consulting – a WordPress site with no posts since 2016.
Where are they now?
More serious businesses that operate premises and services to the public seem to be able to recognise that they can follow the Equality Act by being clear about where they offer single-sex facilities and where they are mixed sex. There are no significant costs involved, just a willingness to say No to LGBTQ+ activist networks that want to queer the rules
The major firms that signed Stonewall’s letters in 2020 have gone quiet and are getting on with complying with the law.
Sex Matters has published guidance on providing single-sex services with confidence: