Civil servants to be punished for 'misgendering' their colleagues

Civil servants are set to be punished for "misgendering" their colleagues, leaked Whitehall guidance has revealed.

A Cabinet Office document, classified as "official sensitive", outlines workplace conduct rules regarding trans staff across Government departments.

According to the guidance, "deliberate deadnaming or misgendering to deny, mock or invalidate a person's trans identity is unacceptable and should be investigated as potential misconduct".

Staff who tell their trans colleagues they "may not use facilities of your affirmed gender which are designated as single-sex" are also at risk.

The policy has been revised following last year's Supreme Court judgment which confirmed sex under the Equality Act is a biological definition.

Ministers have until now declined to make the guidance public.

A Cabinet Office spokesman previously told The Telegraph that sharing the draft was not appropriate, saying: "Under legislation, as has been the case under successive Governments, policy which is under development is not released to ensure advice can be discussed freely without undue public interest."

"Departments are expected to update their own HR policies and these are currently under review. This guidance supports them to do that and it would be inappropriate to share while this is ongoing."

The document does, however, allow some leeway to "neurodivergent" civil servants.

It says incorrectly using names or pronouns may sometimes stem from "a neurodivergent condition or memory issue", and says this should be determined before any disciplinary action.

The leak comes just as the Charity Commission is urging charities not to delay bringing their policies into line with the law.

A number of groups have yet to revise their practices ahead of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's (EHRC) code of practice taking effect on August 5.

The Charity Commission said on Tuesday: "Charities do not need to wait for the Commission's guidance to comply with the Act and the code."

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"It is the responsibility of trustees to ensure their charity is compliant... and unreasonable delays in taking steps towards compliance may be considered a breach of those responsibilities."

The EHRC code, covering England, Scotland and Wales and released in draft form in May, confirms that single-sex services under the Equality Act must operate on the basis of biological sex, in line with the Supreme Court's ruling.

It requires that toilets, changing rooms, hospital wards and refuges designated as single-sex are accessed according to birth sex rather than gender identity.

The code suggests that unisex alternatives, such as self-contained lockable cubicles, could provide facilities for everyone, noting it would be "very unlikely to be proportionate to put a trans person in a position where there is no service that they are allowed to use".

For Women Scotland, the group that brought the Supreme Court case, has previously said: "It's important to remember that the code does not represent a change in the law, just practical help for implementing it.

"If businesses have been complying with the law, there shouldn't be a need for major changes."

A spokesman for the Trans+ Solidarity Alliance said the guidance was "unworkable" and claimed it could "lead to widespread harm for trans people and those who don't conform to gender stereotypes, and put businesses and charities in the crossfire of endless litigation".

The Charity Commission plans to issue its own separate guidance on how charities should respond to the new code.

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