Disabled people 'may have to compete with trans people to use toilets', equalities watchdog warns

By CLAIRE ELLICOT, WHITEHALL EDITOR FOR THE DAILY MAIL Published: 22:01, 22 May 2026 | Updated: 22:01, 22 May 2026 Disabled people may have to ‘compete’ for access to toilets with trans people, a Government analysis admits. An impact assessment of long-awaited guidance from the equalities watchdog warns of a ‘significant possibility of this creating tension’. Implementing the Supreme Court judgment of more than a year ago, new rules state that organisations should make clear if spaces such as toilets are single-sex and so only for use by those of that biological sex.  But the equality impact assessment says that if a trans person chooses to use a disabled toilet rather than that of their biological sex, it could create issues. This ‘may not foster good relations between groups’, it warns, as it says disabled people have had to fight for their right to accessible toilets. Ministers have taken more than a year to publish guidance on how to interpret last year’s Supreme Court ruling that the definitions ‘women’ and ‘sex’ refer to biological sex.  The 342-page guidance was published on Thursday after controversy over the timeline to provide the desperately needed guidance. In it, the Equality and Human Rights Commission confirmed that single-sex services must be on the basis of biological sex, rather than ‘gender identity’. The equality impact assessment says that if a trans person chooses to use a disabled toilet rather than that of their biological sex, it could create issues This means that a trans man – a biological female – can be excluded from a men-only service, while a trans woman – a biological male – can be excluded from a women-only service. The guidance applies to facilities including hospitals, sports, leisure centres and cafes and states that an accessible toilet could be used as a mixed-sex toilet.  But it adds that in such cases a service provider should ‘monitor if there is any negative impact on both trans and disabled people and take appropriate action’. An accompanying impact assessment by the Office for Equality and Opportunity states that guidance ‘concerning the potential need for trans people to use disabled toilets as “third space” facilities may not foster good relations between groups’. It added: ‘This is because disabled people and trans people may have to compete to access a limited number of facilities. Disabled people have had (and continue) to fight for access to suitable toilets. ‘Whether this creates tension between the two groups will depend on how providers choose to arrange and label their facilities . . . EHRC have tried to manage this in their example, but we must recognise that there is a significant possibility of this creating tension.’ The comments below have been moderated in advance. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.