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TransLucent Challenges the EHRC’s Code of Practice – Judicial Review

By 6 Mins Read

Summary

TransLucent has served formal legal notice on the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, setting out our intention to seek a judicial review of the EHRC’s Draft Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations.

TransLucent Challenges the EHRC’s Code of Practice – Judicial Review

This page was updated on 8 August 2026, marked in navy blue text – a massive “thank you” to the many hundreds of people who have donated over £40,000 to our campaign. 

TransLucent has served formal legal notice on the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, setting out our intention to seek a judicial review of the EHRC’s Draft Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations.

Why We’re Taking Action

On 3rd July 2026, our solicitors, Russell Cooke, sent a Pre-Action Protocol (PAP) letter to the EHRC and the Secretary of State, setting out the grounds on which we believe the Code was unlawfully formulated. We believe the Code contains clear errors of law. Specifically, it wrongly states that including trans people in single-sex services is ‘very likely’ to be unlawful direct discrimination, and separately wrongly suggests that offering mixed-sex facilities could itself be direct discrimination against women. We say both statements misstate the law as it currently stands.
The Code was laid before Parliament on 21st May 2026. Once the Secretary of State signs the Order — which could happen any day from 9th July — it becomes formal statutory guidance. This is despite 161 MPs (as of 5/7/26) signing Early Day Motion 240 calling for its rejection, one of the most-supported EDMs on record, with the government so far refusing to give MPs time to debate the Code, which hundreds of businesses and organisations have said is unworkable. You can read our press release here: 
Please donate: by adjusting the slider, you dont have to leave Crowdjustice a “tip”) : LINK: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/challenging-the-ehrc-code-of-p/
Our Crowdjustice page was updated on the 7th of August and reads thus: 

On 3rd July, our solicitors Russell-Cooke, supported by a leading KC and legal team, issued a formal Pre-Action Protocol letter to both the EHRC and the Minister for Women and Equalities setting out two specific legal claims. Following conventional legal procedure, both parties requested and were granted a short extension to respond.

Our legal team has now reviewed those responses, and we are pleased to tell you they confirmed that we have clear and credible grounds to proceed. 

We are currently preparing the final documentation to file our application for Judicial Review at the High Court, which we anticipate submitting in the coming weeks.

As part of this next phase, our legal team is rigorously reviewing all aspects of our claim and seeking evidence from affected individuals and organisations to ensure our case is in the strongest possible. Once the application is made, the court will have to decide whether to grant the case ‘permission’. If it does, it will proceed to a full hearing. 

Public law challenges entail considerable procedural and financial considerations, and we are committed to managing this litigation responsibly while fighting robustly for justice for the trans community.

We will keep you (donors) informed as soon as our papers are formally lodged with the High Court. 

See also the bottom of this page.

What’s at Stake

We believe this Code creates an unfair and unworkable situation for everyone involved:
  • Service providers face confusing, costly compliance demands and risk lawfare from anti-trans activists, whether they act or don’t.
  • Public service workers placed in impossible positions while at work.
  • Trans people risk being pushed out of everyday life — shopping, cinemas, theatres, even appropriate hospital care during serious illness.
  • Cisgender women who don’t fit a stereotypical mould are already being challenged over which loo they use
  • Disabled people face knock-on harm as they’re pushed into competition for accessible facilities – with Disability Rights UK saying:

“Disability Rights UK expresses our solidarity with trans & intersex people and the wider LGBTQLGBTQ LGBTQIA+ is an inclusive term that includes people of all genders and sexualities, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer, intersex, asexual, pansexual, and allies. While each letter in LGBTQIA+ stands for a specific group of people, the term encompasses the entire spectrum of gender fluidity and sexual identities. https://abbreviations.yourdictionary.com/what-does-lgbtqia-stand-for-full-acronym-explained.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT+ community following the release of The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)’s Code of Practice, which sets a dangerous precedent for the weakening of protected characteristics and risks further ostracisation of trans & intersex people from public life“.

TransLucent are bringing this challenge as the people most directly affected — not as outside observers who won’t have legal “standing”… but as the trans community itself. Details of our standing, as highlighted in our PAP, will be published shortly. TransLucent has litigation experience, including our intervention in the Peggie v NHS Fife & Dr Beth Upton case and has made it clear that we intend to apply to intervene in the Hampstead Heath Ponds case (Sex Matters v City of London Corporation) scheduled for later this year
Please donate (by adjusting the slider, you dont have to leave Crowdjustice a “tip”) : LINK: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/challenging-the-ehrc-code-of-p/

Leading the Fight

Internally, this case is led by Prof Emeritus Stephen Whittle OBE, our Joint-CEO, who co-founded Press for Change in 1992 — the organisation behind the Gender Recognition Act 2004. Stephen has been assisted by Dr Debora Diamond (Joint-CEO) and our founder Steph Richards. Over the past five weeks, a team of ten people (six of whom work in the legal profession) have worked very hard to get to the point we are today. We cant name them all – but “thank you” one and all.
Stephen spent 30 years as Professor of Equalities Law at Manchester Law School, saying, “This is a fight I have been part of for 50 years, and I have no intention of stopping now.“

How You Can Help

Judicial reviews are expensive, often exceeding £100,000, and we’re applying for a costs cap while our legal team works at heavily discounted rates. Please also note that all donations go directly to our solicitors, NOT to TransLucent. 
Please visit our CrowdJustice page to support the case and share it with your networks. LINK: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/challenging-the-ehrc-code-of-p/
NEW TEXT ADDED TO THIS PAGE – 8th August: TransLucent are currently (as of 8th August) involved in two legal actions – seeking a Judicial Review against the EHRC Code and seeking to intervene in the Hampstead Heath Ponds case (Sex Matters v City of London Corporation).
Legal “standing” is a key element of our approach to litigation – TransLucent solely advocates for the trans and gender diverse community.
Uniquely, TransLucent also owns specific data (most of which we publish) which we can produce in courts, hopefully to help win our legal cases. Courts like data – TransLucent has been harvesting it for over five years. 

TransLucent Challenges the EHRC’s Code of Practice – Judicial Review.

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A team of authors with a mission to advocate for and promote the UK’s Transgender and Gender Diverse community in order to advance visibility, acceptance, legal recognition and healthcare.

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