On 15th October 2026, many government departments and agencies are planning to implement harmful policy changes that amount to attacks on the dignity of trans and non-binary members of staff. Other departments and agencies will likely follow suit soon. Earlier in the year, the Government People Group (GPG) released model policy and guidance which was cascaded to departments and agencies. This was done so without adequate consultation with PCS at a national level and proposed changes include:

• Banning trans people from using single-sex facilities (such as toilets) in line with their affirmed gender, and potentially requiring them to use ‘third spaces’ under the threat of disciplinary action;
• Requiring line managers to determine where trans and non-binary workers go to the toilet;
• Removing paid special leave for gender reassignment purposes and worsening policies regarding sickness absences;
• Making it harder to challenge intentional misgendering and deadnaming.

There are some differences in implementation at departmental level, but most departments and agencies appear to be attempting to implement new policy that is in line with the model policy and guidance. These changes follow the Supreme Court judgment from April 2025 which held that the terms “man”, “woman”, and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to “biological sex” (“sex registered at birth”) and the EHRC’s new Code of Practice on Services, public functions, and associations. They also follow the February High Court judgment on the Workplace Regulations 1992 which many have interpreted as placing additional restrictions on access to facilities by trans and non-binary people in the workplace context. 

Taken together, these rulings and the new Code of Practice are part of a cultural and legislative trajectory to erase trans people from public life, as we have previously written. The GPG policy changes constitute regressive attacks on individuals who already face high levels of harassment and discrimination across the country, and will likely lead to increased harassment, potential disciplinary actions, and exclusion from the workplace. 

Despite several motions passed at both Annual Delegate Conference and the National Executive Committee, parts of national PCS have been slow to act to defend trans and non-binary workers in the face of the proposed policy changes. This is not surprising given the previous banning of trans people from single-sex toilets at conference in 2025. 

Several PCS groups and national branches have successfully argued (backed by pressure from PCS members) to delay the removal of paid special leave, on the basis that the removal of this leave is likely discriminatory towards trans people. But, notably, there has been no movement from the employer on the toilet ban and other elements of the proposed policies, as far as we are aware. We should be clear that this is not through the lack of trying by national PCS negotiators, and (most) groups and national branches, but that fundamentally the legal situation is stacked against trans and non-binary people. Employers are implementing unjust policy to prevent being the targets of lawfare by anti-trans organisations, who have a lot more money and resources than trans people and pro-trans organisations. 

Through its reinterpretation of the Equality Act 2010, resulting from years of spurious lawfare from anti-trans organisations, the Supreme Court inverted supposed legal protections for trans people in the UK to now be weaponised against them in order to attempt to exclude them from public life. It is currently very difficult to make legal arguments against the fundamentals of the GPG policy when it comes to access to single-sex facilities such as toilets due to the legal landscape in the UK. 

We must also understand that the dominant structure of trade unionism in the UK is one of business and service unionism. Most unions, including PCS, are largely run as businesses with funds and assets that must be safeguarded by full-time bureaucrats whose collective interests diverge from members. Full-time union positions are overwhelmingly not elected by the membership, and attract wages that are far more than what equivalent members earn. This leads to a divergence of interests. This is part of the reason many unions have adopted a nominally pro-trans position but have committed to complying with the law nonetheless, with the TUC General Council asking affiliated unions to do the same. This is not good enough and we must instead organise to support those who do not comply with these pernicious policies. We must also look for ways to make our union structures more accountable to workers, such as by electing full-time officers beyond just the General and Assistant General Secretaries, and ensuring that our full-time officers earn a worker’s wage that increases in line with pay increases won by members. 

We should not be cowed in the face of inaction or conservatism from our national unions. We cannot wait for test cases; we must act to defend trans and non-binary workers now. We must understand this is not reducible to a legal fight. This is a political fight for liberation. As trade unionists we are obligated to oppose unjust laws and to support those who refuse to comply with unjust policies, building political and industrial opposition to these practices in our branches and workplaces. We must demonstrate that these policies are unenforceable by building a critical mass of workers that refuse to police others based on their perceived sex/gender. We must loudly demonstrate our solidarity with trans and non-binary workers so they know that we will be there to defend them if they are targeted in the workplace. Campaigning to amend the Equality Act to reverse the effects of the Supreme Court judgment is vital, but we must also respond urgently to these attacks on our terms and conditions, and our autonomy, in our workplaces now. Organising in our branches and workplaces is the way to do this. 

In the London and South East regional committee, we held a meeting for activists from across the region (and some from the wider UK) that was attended by representatives from close to 30 branches. At this meeting, discussion focused on the need to take practical action in branches and workplaces to defend trans and non-binary workers. There was agreement of the need to both raise awareness of the changes in members and non-members, but to also begin persuading members of staff that they should act in solidarity with trans and non-binary workers, and building a broad base to do this. On 22 September, several branches held workplace days of actions at buildings across London and beyond, with reps and members handing out leaflets raising awareness of the changes and seeking to convince other workers to defend trans and non-binary workers and refuse to police toilet access, amongst other issues. Some branches held stalls to fundraise for the Outside Project and spoke at length with members of staff about the proposed changes; others held members’ meetings on the proposed changes.  

Leaflets handed out at 10SC included these bullet points: 

• It is not appropriate to interrogate colleagues’ sex/gender and we should follow colleagues’ lead on their gender presentation or pronouns;
• We should not police anyone’s use of single-sex spaces based on their perceived sex/gender;
• Sexual harassment is never appropriate and should always be robustly challenged, but these policies do not help to do this. Instead, they will likely enable it;
• The removal of paid special leave for gender reassignment purposes would likely amount to discrimination under the Equality Act 2010;
• Colleagues who are not trans but are gender non-conforming are also at risk from these changes;
• Employers should halt the proposed changes and ensure all provisions and policies are inclusive;
• Employers should meaningfully consult with the trade unions rather than imposing these changes, and must meet their legal obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Further actions are being planned in workplaces across London and the South East, and the wider country. 

Many employers are attempting to introduce these changes without proper consultation on a departmental level, often using the excuse that the Cabinet Office has already sought legal advice. We also urge members and reps to hold members’ meetings, host stalls, hand out leaflets, and talk to your colleagues about what is happening. We cannot allow this to be quietly introduced without a fightback. 

It is also key that we ensure arguments for trans liberation are not treated as optional tickboxes but are integrated into industrial and political struggles in the workplace and beyond. Trans liberation is only possible as part of broad working class struggle and we must organise together on the basis of shared struggle and solidarity, not on shared identity. We are for democratic worker control of our workplaces and doing our work, our way. This includes being able to decide where and how we work; it also includes being able to work without your access to workplace facilities being denied or policed by managers on the basis of your perceived sex/gender. We call on members of PCS to demonstrate your practical solidarity with trans and non-binary workers and fight for the autonomy and freedom of all workers.