Decision

Council AGREED an alteration to the motion set out in the agenda.

Council AGREED the following altered motion:

Council notes that: 

1. Waltham Forest has declared itself a Borough of Sanctuary, committing to?be?a safe and welcoming place for all residents regardless of their background or identity. This includes Trans, non-binary, and intersex people. 

1. As the High Court has recently affirmed, the Supreme Court's judgment on the definition of "sex" in the Equality Act in?For Women Scotland?(2025) does not require service providers to exclude trans people from services, nor does it countermand the council's freedom and responsibility to provide safe and inclusive services to trans people and all residents. The revised EHRC Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations, laid before Parliament in May 2026, reaffirms that?organisations?have significant discretion in how they design and deliver inclusive services. 

1. The Government’s own Equalities Impact Assessment on recent EHRC Guidance has affirmed that a misinterpretation of existing guidance and law - that would mandate the exclusion of trans people - would put trans people at considerable risk. This misinterpretation would also have negative consequences for women, people from ethnic minorities, disabled people, and people who are less likely to meet conventional notions of “female” or “male”. 

1. Trans, non-binary, and intersex residents of Waltham Forest, including those who are also women, migrants, asylum seekers, or from?racialised?communities, face compounding barriers to accessing services safely. 
2. The Supreme Court has defined “sex” as “biological sex” and “sex at birth”. However, the medical and scientific use of these terms is inherently probabilistic and relies on contextual interpretation, and there is currently no agreed identification to substantiate a “biological sex” or “sex at birth” of an individual, absent self-identification.
3. Asking an individual intrusive questions about “biological sex” or “sex at birth” is a potential breach of data protection legislation, their privacy rights, and human dignity, and is unlikely to be necessary and justified in most ordinary circumstances. Moreover, the exclusion of those with protected characteristics from essential facilities or services will rarely be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, although this must be assessed on a case-by-case basis. 
4. The council has a statutory duty under the Public Sector Equality Duty to have due regard to the need to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations for people with protected characteristics, which includes the protected characteristic of gender reassignment. Multiple rulings have confirmed that the protected characteristic of gender reassignment applies to any trans person at any stage of transition. 

Council believes that: 

1. Trans women are women, trans men are men, and non-binary identities are valid. This is consistent with, and not in conflict with, the council's commitment to equality for all residents. 
2. Every resident of this borough deserves to access council services safely, with dignity, and free from discrimination or harassment. 
3. In many circumstances it is not practical for council representatives or employees to be expected to infer or decide the sex of another person other than by means of polite inquiry or collected data.

?Council resolves to: 

1. Publicly reaffirm its commitment to trans, non-binary, and intersex inclusion as a Borough of Sanctuary and as an authority bound by the Public Sector Equality Duty. 

1. Instruct the Cabinet Member for Equalities to commission a review of all relevant council policies, service specifications, and procurement conditions to ensure they explicitly affirm protection from discrimination on grounds of gender reassignment, reporting back to the relevant scrutiny committee within six months. 

1. Instruct the Corporate Director of Culture and Workforce Development to ensure that trans awareness and inclusion form part of mandatory equalities training for all staff and elected members, and that the council's HR policies - including on name, prefix, and pronoun use, facilities access, and dress codes - are updated to reflect best practice. 

1. Commit that, in the spirit of ensuring compliance with all relevant laws, including data protection, health and safety, and non-discrimination against those with protected characteristics, self-identification should be sufficient in normal circumstances for the purposes of access to and use of any of the London Borough of Waltham Forest’s facilities and services. As examples, this principle need not apply when there is a reasonable suspicion of danger to a service user, bystander, or employee, or where there is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. 

1. Commit that all new and refurbished council-owned public buildings, leisure?centres, and civic spaces will include non-gendered toilet and changing facilities where practicable, in addition to facilities provided for people who are?disabled, and?instruct the relevant Cabinet Member to bring forward a report on the feasibility and phasing of retrofitting existing council buildings. 

1. Instruct the Director of Public Health and the relevant Cabinet Member to work with NHS partners and Healthwatch Waltham Forest to identify and address barriers faced by trans, non-binary, and intersex residents in accessing appropriate healthcare in the borough. 

1. Request the Leader of the Council to write to the Minister for Women and Equalities with a copy of this motion, calling on the Government to introduce novel positive legislative support for trans and non-binary people, and to confirm that the EHRC Code of Practice is designed to support inclusive service delivery, as outlined by this motion, rather than enabling exclusion. 

1. Celebrate Trans Day of Visibility across the Council

Furthermore: 

1. ????Council encourages the provision and expansion of non-gendered safe and private spaces in the private sector (such as toilets and changing room facilities) where it is appropriate and practical to do so, including individual lockable rooms. Council further encourages that these be in addition to spaces for people who are disabled, where it is practical to do so.
2. ????Council applauds the work in The Borough of Waltham Forest of?elop, Walthamstow Trans Pride, Safe Space Waltham Forest, and the many other people and community-led groups supporting our trans, non-binary, and intersex residents locally. 

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