UK toilets, showers & changing & legislation - reference thread

[Thelnebriati]

This subject has come up so often, I thought I'd put all the relevant links in one place.
Please keep an eye out for any factual errors or changes to the law. I'd like to keep this thread up to date and accurate.

If you have challenged an organisation who made a women's facility mixed sex, please keep a record here.

Toilets & changing in schools

Info collated in this blog post;
<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171209141700/www.sec-ed.co.uk/best-practice/school-toilets-guidance-and-regulations/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">web.archive.org/web/20171209141700/www.sec-ed.co.uk/best-practice/school-toilets-guidance-and-regulations/

The School Premises (England) Regulations 2012

Toilet and washing facilities
4.—(1) Subject to paragraph (3), suitable toilet and washing facilities must be provided for the sole use of pupils.

(2) Separate toilet facilities for boys and girls aged 8 years or over must be provided except where the toilet facility is provided in a room that can be secured from the inside and that is intended for use by one pupil at a time.

(3) Where separate facilities are provided under paragraph (1) for pupils who are disabled, they may also be used by other pupils, teachers and others employed at the school, and visitors, whether or not they are disabled.

(4) Suitable changing accommodation and showers must be provided for pupils aged 11 years or over at the start of the school year who receive physical education.

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/1943/regulation/4/made

In the UK there's no such thing as a 'gender neutral' or 'mixed sex' toilet; the two types or toilet an employer or organisation must provide are;
single sex, or
single occupancy.

• Single sex toilets must have cubicles and washbasins. If they are for men they can include urinals, if they are for women they must include a sanitary waste bin.
• Single occupancy toilets must be a self contained cubicle with floor to ceiling walls and door, a wash basin, and a sanitary waste bin.

Other toilets ('gender neutral or mixed sex) must be in addition to these. If you only have one toilet it should be accessible.
You cannot legally discriminate against women or disabled people by placing their toilets at a distance or inconvenient location. There are rules about how far employees have to travel to reach a toilet.

Most of the relevant info about how many toilets for men and women an org. must provide is in this document;
www2.canterbury.gov.uk/media/253481/sanitaryaccommodation.pdf

How many toilets should a workplace have?
www.hse.gov.uk/contact/faqs/toilets.htm

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
Sanitary conveniences
20.—(1) Suitable and sufficient sanitary conveniences shall be provided at readily accessible places.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (1), sanitary conveniences shall not be suitable unless—

(c)separate rooms containing conveniences are provided for men and women except where and so far as each convenience is in a separate room the door of which is capable of being secured from inside.

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/3004/regulation/20/made

There's info about toilet design collated here with links to relevant legislation, from page 10 onwards
www.barbourproductsearch.info/CubicleCentre-retail-washroom-guide%20UPDATED%20pdf-file089483.pdf

A single occupancy toilet is a self contained room - that means the sink should be inside the room.
pg 47 - 52.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/441786/BR_PDF_AD_M2_2015.pdf

Even with an GRC or amended birth certificate a person does not have an automatic right to access women only spaces or services.

When it's lawful to provide separate services for men and women;
The Equality Act says it's lawful to provide separate services for men and women if:
there's a good enough reason for providing separate services, for example;
- the services are of a type that you would object to someone of the opposite sex being there - for example, separate changing rooms or a service involving personal hygiene.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/discrimination-in-the-provision-of-goods-and-services/discrimination-in-the-provision-of-goods-and-services1/goods-and-services-what-are-the-different-types-of-discrimination/what-doesn-t-count-as-unlawful-discrimination-in-goods-and-services/single-sex-and-separate-services-for-men-and-women-when-discrimination-is-allowed/