Charity Commission offers interim update on provisions of EHRC’s code that clarify the law on matters of sex and gender

[SingleSexSpacesInSchools]

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/charities-urged-to-prepare-for-compliance-with-ehrc-code-of-practice

This seems like it could be an excellent foundation against which those minded to bring pressure onto charities could bring them back to a sex realist position wherever possible.

They're laying out the legal facts, which is good.

"But charities need to be aware that our guidance will not alter the legal principle set out by the April 2025 Supreme Court judgment, For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers, that ‘sex’ for the purpose of the Equality Act means ‘biological sex’.

Charities do not need to wait for the Commission’s guidance to comply with the Act and the Code. It is the responsibility of trustees to ensure their charity is compliant with the Code, once it is legally enforceable, and unreasonable delays in taking steps towards compliance may be considered a breach of those responsibilities."

I'm a bit confused about this:

It is the responsibility of trustees to ensure their charity is compliant with the Code, once it is legally enforceable

I thought the EHRC Code of Practice was advice on how to comply with the law, (i.e. EA 2020); so isn't it the Equality Act which is legally enforceable, and isn't that already the case?

This advice seems to imply that charities shouldn't wait for the Charity Commission's guidance, but it's OK to wait for the EHRC guidance to come into force. Is that right?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5557040-charity-commission-prepares-to-urge-charities-to-prepare-to-comply-with-fws-ii?reply=153674230

Some discussion here

It seems this excellent letter from Sex Matters has pushed the CC into behaving like a responsible regulator for once:

https://sex-matters.org/posts/updates/the-charity-commission-must-act/

That is indeed a very good letter and it demonstrates how badly out of kilter things have got in the charity sector, and within the regulator in allowing things to get this bad.

An important step forward.

Sex Matters are great in pushing for this.

However I would like to thank the sexist losers in Amnesty for being so outrageously sexist that there was NO way it could be covered up.

They had to keep pushing the line that men are more important than women to the max. Yes they were going to be defeated eventually, but they decided to speed run to the end.

It might have taken ages to get to to this spot without them.

How much public money has been and is being spent on reminding people to use public toilets the way everyone did 15 or 20 years ago without needing to be reminded? That is: a biological man uses toilets for men; a biological woman uses toilets for women.

I wonder about all the public money (must be huge sums) wasted since gender ideology crept into taxpayer-funded services every time I read about children in the UK who regularly arrive at school hungry and in dirty uniform and inadequate coats and shoes, or elderly people in the UK who sit in freezing houses during the winter because they can’t afford to put their heating on.

It’s absolutely shameful.

From the op's link, (thank you op):

'Charities are therefore advised to take steps towards ensuring they can comply with the Code and the law, notably the changes regarding the definition of sex under the Equality Act 2010 as relating to biological sex.'

Shouldn't it say 'clarification', not 'changes'?

It's a heavy handed sentence and I can't decide if I'm nitpicking or not. But I've seen a number of posts on this board describing this incorrectly as a 'change of law' or a 'new law', and the Charity Commission need to get this right, especially on the government's own website

My feelings exactly, if there is any spare money, schools should be using that to give practical help to aid student learning, whether it’s an extra teaching assistant or free breakfast, or similar.

Good to see this. And tbh, unexpected. the CC have been worse than useless on this up until now.

It is down to Amnesty being crazy.

I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't purely women, gays and Sex Matters and other sex realist groups complaining that pushed them to do something. They have been ignored for years.

Amnesty's "anti rights" rant basically attacked the Catholic Church, every single evangelical church in the UK and Christian MPs. No socially conservative Muslims, Jews or Hindus were harmed though.