Gwent Police changes policy on trans access to women’s spaces

Martin Shipton

Gwent Police has confirmed a change of policy banning trans members of staff who are biologically male from toilets, changing rooms and showers designated for women.

The decision follows a threat by the gender critical Women’s Rights Network (WRN) to take the force to court unless the policy was changed following last year’s Supreme Court ruling that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological sex.

Solicitors acting for WRN wrote to Gwent Chief Constable Mark Hobrough earlier this year stating: “Our client submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to your organisation on 31 January 2026 requesting that certain information be supplied. Among this information was a request for the following: ‘Provide a copy of any current policy with regard to officers/staff/witnesses/visitors regarding access to toilets, changing rooms and showers in your force area and whether these are restricted on the basis of sex.’

“The Trans Inclusion Policy provided on 27 February 2026 contains the following at paragraph 8.28, under the heading ‘Use of Facilities’: ‘Trans members of staff are entitled to use the facilities of the gender in which they present. This will be the case from the first day that they present in that gender. It is not acceptable to insist that a member of staff transitioning at work should use separate facilities, for example the nominated accessible toilet, unless they so wish. Where an individual is concerned about the use of facilities, they should inform their line manager.’

“Your Freedom of Information Act response also states that: ‘As per Gwent Police’s current Transitioning in the Workplace policy, our toilets, changing rooms and showers are not segregated on the basis of biological sex. We have a mix of single sex provision, gender neutral toilets across the estate. We are working to increase the provision of gender-neutral provision in multiple sites.’”

WRN’s solicitors went on to state: “Female officers and staff within the organisation, as well as any policing partners or visitors to your premises are subject to unlawful discrimination as a result of this policy,” and invited the force to change its policy accordingly.

A Gwent Police spokesperson said the policy had been revoked a number of months ago: “We are committed to an inclusive workplace where everyone feels safe, respected and able to be themselves.

“We understand the impact that this has on our workforce and communities and as such we are being proactive in ensuring our estates and working environments are inclusive and safe for all to use.

“Our Trans Inclusion Policy has been reviewed in light of recent Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance on public spaces, and we await further guidance on workplaces.

“A revised policy is currently out for consultation with our staff networks and will be published following this process.”

Ceri Rosser, deputy coordinator of Wales WRN, said: “Gwent Police’s decision to ditch its unlawful policy is welcome, but it shouldn’t have taken a legal threat when female officers had the law on their side all along under the Workplace Regulations 1992 and the Equality Act on single-sex spaces. It’s concerning that it took a grassroots women’s rights group, rather than the force’s own leadership, to spot that the policy was unlawful.

‘Dignity’

“Policing is a difficult enough job for our brave men and women in uniform without them having to suffer a lack of basic privacy and dignity at work. That failure sits with police chiefs, whose job it is to maintain public confidence in the force, and that includes how they treat their own officers.

“We’re glad common sense has finally won out, and we’ll be watching closely to make sure the replacement policy actually delivers safe, single-sex spaces for the women who serve. This can’t be another case of lip service followed by a policy that quietly reintroduces the same problems under different language. Female officers, staff and members of the public deserve privacy and dignity as a matter of basic workplace law. It should never be something they have to fight for, force by force, year after year.”

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