Trans people

Guidance and resources for institutions

Our revision to ECU’s 2010 guidance focusses on improving experiences for trans staff and students in HE and colleges.

Please note, we recognise the significance of the recent Supreme Court’s judgment which holds that the terms ‘man’, ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological sex. The judgment brings  clarity to the definitions while reiterating the protections for trans students and staff, with or without a GRC. We are currently reviewing guidance materials, including this guidance, to address any changes required as a result of the judgment. Our review will, in turn, be informed by the statutory guidance that the EHRC is currently drafting following the Supreme Court’s judgment. 

We have updated the guidance to reflect our new Guidance on the collection of diversity monitoring data and will be refreshing this guidance over the coming years.

Statistics

For the latest equality monitoring statistics for staff and students in higher education for the protected characteristics of ‘gender reassignment’ see our annual statistics reports.

Policy work

Advance HE continues to inform policy and practice on furthering inclusion for trans people (including non-binary people) in universities across the UK and in Colleges in Scotland.

Consultation Responses:

• Advance HE response to the UK Government Equality Office’s consultation on the Reform of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 [2018][pdf]
• ECU response to the Scottish Government consultation on Review of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 [2018] [pdf]