Labour refuses to publish 'secret' trans guidance for civil servants

Labour is facing fresh questions after refusing to publish secret trans guidance circulated to civil servants across Whitehall.

The Cabinet Office has declined to release the policy after it was distributed to departments in May, arguing that publishing it could mean "ministers and officials may not feel comfortable sharing their views".

Despite that decision, documents marked "sensitive" were later shared on social media, apparently revealing that trans civil servants would be barred from using toilets of their self-identified gender.

The leaked draft follows the landmark Supreme Court ruling in April 2025, which found that holding a Gender Recognition Certificate does not grant someone legal status as a woman for the purposes of accessing single-sex spaces.

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Shadow Women and Equalities Minister Claire Coutinho accused Labour of "running scared of scrutiny of their secret civil service trans guidance".

She argued that taxpayers deserved to know whether Government departments were complying with the law by protecting women's sex-based rights.

Her intervention comes amid growing pressure on ministers to explain why the guidance has been withheld.

Documents seen by The Telegraph advise civil servants not to amend the wording of the policy "unless they have a compelling reason to do so".

Internal briefing papers also acknowledge the proposals are likely to prove contentious, warning of "strong opposing views amongst internal staff networks".

According to the leaked documents, the draft policy says: "You may not use facilities of your affirmed gender which are designated as single-sex."

It also makes clear that while a Gender Recognition Certificate changes a person's legal status in certain respects, it does not alter their sex for the purpose of accessing single-sex facilities.

If adopted, the policy would mark a significant shift from Cabinet Office guidance issued in 2019, which allowed civil servants to use facilities that best matched their gender identity and expression.

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That guidance also warned employees they could face disciplinary action for bullying or harassing colleagues who identified as trans.

Under the new draft policy, trans civil servants with questions about which facilities they may use are instructed to raise the matter with their line manager.

Replacement guidance drawn up in 2023 was never formally implemented.

Maya Forstater, chief executive of Sex Matters, called for the Government to publish the replacement policy in full.

"The last Cabinet Office model policy did untold harm by embedding unlawful policies across the public sector and by indirectly influencing misunderstanding of the law among civil servants," Ms Forstater said.

She argued that anyone promoting a lawful policy should have nothing to fear from making it public.

The row comes amid wider concerns that some public bodies have yet to fully implement the Supreme Court's ruling.

NHS trusts and ambulance services have reportedly continued allowing trans patients to access female-only wards.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence faced criticism last month after failing to clarify its own transgender policies, leaving army chiefs to assess cases individually while acknowledging previous guidance was incompatible with the law.

A spokesman for the Cabinet Office said: “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.

“This exemption is made clear under section 36 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

“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.”

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