Story in the Telegraph, which says that the EHRC has written to Sex Matters to say their 2014 guidance had things wrong with it:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/16/trans-children-pupils-teachers-schools-guidance-regulator/
"The equalities regulator has said the Government must urgently publish its delayed trans guidance for schoolss_ to provide teachers with “much needed clarity”.
Marcial Boo, the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s chief executive, revealed that the watchdog had been privately urging the Department for Education (DfE) to “expedite” their new guidance, amid wrangling in Government over how to respond to children seeking to change their gender identity in schools.
Writing to campaigners, Mr Boo also admitted that the EHRC’s own official guidance, in place for almost a decade, had been wrong to tell teachers that they would automatically be guilty of anti-trans discrimination if they referred to a “previously female pupil” as a girl. He said the regulator was urgently correcting “inaccuracies” in its “technical guidance” on the application of the Equality Act in schools."
"In a letter sent on Wednesday Mr Boo said: “Schools ... are calling for clear information on these matters. We have been urging DfE to expedite their new guidance and expect them to consult on it shortly.”
An EHRC spokesman added: “We urge them to bring forward this guidance as soon as possible, to help provide much needed clarity for schools and families.”"
"But, in a letter to the Sex Matters campaign groupp_, which alerted the EHRC to “errors” in the guidance, Mr Boo said: “You raise important and complex areas of equality law. For example, as you suggest, it may not be directly discriminatory for a school not to refer to a child by their preferred gender (where it differs from their legal sex). However, schools must carefully consider how they justify and consistently apply their policies on this matter to avoid any risk of indirect discrimination.”
Referring to the 2014 guidance he added: “We recognise that since that time, several areas of policy and law, including in particular considerations around sex and gender such as those you raise, have evolved.
”We are currently undertaking a rapid review of this guidance and intend to publish a revised version, correcting the inaccuracies which have been highlighted to us, within the coming weeks.”"