New public buildings must offer male and female loos – ministers

New offices, schools, hospitals and entertainment venues will be expected to have separate male and female toilets, government sources have confirmed, in a move to curb the sole installation of gender-neutral facilities.

Ministers will announce this week that the government is acting to prevent non-residential buildings from being built solely with “universal” toilets. The move will involve changes to building regulations and planning guidance.

The plans, headed by the equalities minister, Kemi Badenoch, were quietly approved last month, the Sunday Telegraph reported. The government has claimed some children were avoiding using lavatories at school because they only had access to gender-neutral facilities.

The policy was first proposed in May 2021 and was criticised for being transphobic as it offers no alternative for trans and non-binary people.

Campaigners for trans rights have pointed out that gender-neutral toilets can be reassuring for some transgender men and women who fear discrimination in binary toilets.

The then secretary of state for housing, Robert Jenrick, rejected the accusation and raised concerns held by some women about the reduced privacy and longer queues resulting from gender-neutral facilities.

It follows an intense debate over whether trans women should be given automatic access to single-sex spaces such as toilets, prisons and changing rooms. Most recently, there has been a debate over trans people participating in women’s sports.

Badenoch has insisted that the planned changes to toilet regulations is both legal and “important”.