Workplace toilets: know your rights

Under the 1992 Workplace Regulations, most workplaces must provide single-sex toilets for their employees, as well as changing rooms and washing facilities where required. While toilets can be single-user fully enclosed rooms, the most common approach in larger workplaces is two or more cubicles inside an enclosed room, with handwashing facilities in a shared area, all behind a door marked either Male or Female. There will often be a unisex single-user accessible toilet as well.

The Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers was crystal clear that any space designated single-sex is solely for the use of people of that sex. This is because in order for a space (or service) to be lawfully provided for one sex only, it must satisfy one of several criteria called the “single-sex exceptions” in the Equality Act. Roughly speaking, these criteria are various situations in which including people of the other sex would be inappropriate. If an employer designates a space as “single sex” and then states in its policies that certain people of the other sex can enter, then the space automatically fails to meet these criteria.

The Supreme Court judgment therefore means that all employers need to make clear in their policies that whenever a space is marked as being for one sex or the other, it is not for use by members of the opposite sex, regardless of claimed identity, certification or lifestyle.

The widely promoted idea that people may choose the facilities that suit their gender identity, or that they feel comfortable with, is legally wrong. Facilities are either for one sex only or for both sexes, with no exceptions. There can be no excuse for an employer to let people use the facilities marked for the other sex. This deprives everyone else of the single-sex provision they are entitled to under workplace regulations.

The signs on the doors of workplace toilets and other facilities are health and safety signs. They should no more be ignored than signs that say not to block the fire exit or warnings about hazardous materials.

Whose job is it to enforce this?

Your employer

Your employer is responsible for complying with the law. No individual employee should have to request that it do so, nor should anyone have to challenge someone using the wrong facilities.

It is not enough for employers to provide men’s and women’s toilets. They must also ensure that the rules for use are clear and complied with by everyone.

The Health and Safety Executive is the regulator that oversees the 1992 Workplace Regulations. In response to a letter from Sex Matters, the chief executive of the HSE wrote:

“For legislation that requires an employer to provide an item or facility for their workers, HSE would consider not just whether it is actually present, but also whether an employer takes steps to ensure that it is used as they intend. For provision of men’s and women’s toilet facilities for workers, we would consider the availability of separate facilities and whether or not the employer is following a clear policy and decision-making process as to their use.”

This is unambiguous: employers have a responsibility to communicate and enforce their policies and ensure that men are not using the women’s facilities (and vice versa).

If there are men using the women’s toilets or if the policy is that anyone can use whichever facilities they prefer, or if traditional cubicled communal spaces are relabelled “unisex”, you should complain.

You could report the problem to your supervisor or your immediate manager. Employers are required to display a health and safety at work poster in the workplace that includes details of the health and safety representative. Explain the issue and suggest a solution (there should be a clear policy that male and female facilities are provided on the basis of biological sex).

If your concern is not taken seriously, you can escalate to either your head of health and safety or human resources. Explain the same concerns that you previously expressed and why you believe your concerns have not been acted upon.

You are protected by law from suffering a detriment if you raise health and safety concerns with your employer or the enforcing authority. In fact, under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, employees in Britain have a responsibility to report any matter which a person with their training and instruction would “reasonably consider represented a shortcoming in the employer’s protection arrangements for health and safety”.

Use our template email below and attach our workplace toilets factsheet to make this point to your employer.

Your union

If you are in a trade union and you are concerned that your employer does not take the issue seriously, you can report the issue to your trade union safety representative.

Their role is to check and follow up on management’s actions or lack of action on health, safety and environmental issues in the workplace. This includes the regulations on toilets, changing and washing facilities. Trade-union safety representatives can also report the issue to the HSE.

The regulator

If your employer does not respond by adopting or confirming that it has a clear sex-based policy, and that it will enforce that policy, you can make a report to the regulator.

Health and Safety Executive

For health and safety in workplaces, including schools and colleges, hospitals and nursing homes, central and local government premises, factories, farms, building sites, mines and offshore installations, the regulator is the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

In Great Britain, you can report employers in these sectors that do not comply with the 1992 Workplace Regulations to the HSE via its website.
In Northern Ireland, the regulator is the HSE NI.

Workplaces not covered by the HSE are covered by a local authority.

Your local authority

If you work in an office, hospitality, retail, wholesale or distribution, or leisure, the relevant regulator is your local authority – your district council or local unitary authority.

Search online with the name of your council and “health and safety at work” to find a number or online form for reporting the problem.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission

The Equality and Human Rights Commission issued interim guidance to back up the Supreme Court judgment. This states that in workplaces and services that are open to the public:

“trans women (biological men) should not be permitted to use the women’s facilities and trans men (biological women) should not be permitted to use the men’s facilities, as this will mean that they are no longer single-sex facilities and must be open to all users of the opposite sex
in some circumstances the law also allows trans women (biological men) not to be permitted to use the men’s facilities, and trans men (biological women) not to be permitted to use the women’s facilities
however where facilities are available to both men and women, trans people should not be put in a position where there are no facilities for them to use
where possible, mixed-sex toilet, washing or changing facilities in addition to sufficient single-sex facilities should be provided
where toilet, washing or changing facilities are in lockable rooms (not cubicles) which are intended for the use of one person at a time, they can be used by either women or men.”

Organisations that fail to comply with the Equality Act 2010 can be reported to the EHRC.

If you report your workplace to the HSE or your local authority and it refuses to act, report both your workplace and the regulator to the EHRC.

What should you do?

Many organisations are reviewing their policies in the light of the Supreme Court judgment. You may want to start by asking what your employer is doing and on what timescale. You can remind them that this is the law. There is no need to wait for guidance: in fact there could be legal risk for those whose policies do not comply right now.

Don’t be tempted to go to the press or talk about your employer on social media. Your aim should be to keep your job and to follow your employer’s established processes for raising issues like this.

Keep a paper trail of your engagement with your employer and with the regulators.

Template email to raise concerns about workplace toilet policies

This template email is designed to help you clearly and confidently raise concerns about workplace toilet policies, whether they are about:

the removal of single-sex facilities
the introduction of “gender-neutral” or unisex toilets
unclear guidance on who is permitted to use which amenities.

The sample text can be used to start an informal conversation, adapted to submit a formal grievance, or amended to escalate a previous complaint.

How to use it

Copy and paste into an email, with the optional sections to suit your own situation.
Replace placeholders like [manager’s name] and [insert specific issue].
Attach our Workplace toilets factsheet.
Send it as an informal query or adapt it to form part of a formal grievance if needed.

Sample text

Subject: Request for review of workplace toilet facilities policy

Dear [manager’s name / Human resources department],

I am writing to raise concerns about the [current / proposed] provision of toilet facilities in our workplace. I do so with the intention of seeking clarity and ensuring our compliance with legal obligations.

Under the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, employers are required to provide “suitable and sufficient” sanitary conveniences. This includes providing separate facilities for men and women, except where each convenience is in a self-contained room with a door that can be secured from the inside. These obligations are not optional and are legally binding.

The Equality Act 2010 protects employees from discrimination and harassment on the basis of sex and belief. The UK Supreme Court clarified in For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers (April 2025) that “single-sex” means biological sex. This position has been reinforced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and has direct implications for how workplace toilet facilities are designated and used.

• Facilities marked as single-sex must be restricted to people of that biological sex.
• Permitting use based on gender identity invalidates single-sex provision.
• Trans individuals must be provided for but not at the expense of removing single-sex access for others.
• Employers should ensure they have a lawful, clear, and consistently applied policy.

To support this, I am attaching a factsheet outlining employer responsibilities under UK law.

Attach factsheet

Use this if policies allow self-ID toilet use

I am aware of current workplace [policies] [and training] that state individuals may use facilities based on gender identity rather than biological sex. This undermines the lawful provision of single-sex facilities and may result in indirect discrimination or harassment.

I believe that this should be reviewed in the light of current legislation, workplace safety regulations, and case law including Earl Shilton Town Council v Miller, which found that forcing women to share space with male colleagues in inadequate facilities amounted to direct sex discrimination.

Use this if toilets are being refurbished or changed

I am concerned about [insert specific issue: the relabelling of single-sex toilets as gender-neutral, the removal of separate male and female toilets, ambiguous signage]. This creates uncertainty and anxiety for many employees, particularly women and religious minorities, and breaches legal requirements.

Since October 2024, England’s Building Regulations (Schedule 1, Requirement T1) require single-sex toilets in all new-builds and refurbishments wherever space allows. This makes the legal expectations around separate provision even more explicit.

I respectfully request that [company name]:
• reviews its policies and signage relating to toilet use
• confirms that single-sex facilities are designated for use based on biological sex only
• considers whether an equality impact assessment has been completed
• ensures that any unisex or “gender-neutral” facilities are additional and are fully enclosed and clearly marked.

Use this for disinformation clarification

I am aware that since the Supreme Court ruling and the EHRC’s updated guidance, there has been a significant amount of public disinformation from organisations such as Stonewall and the Good Law Project suggesting that the ruling is not yet the law or the guidance is unlawful. These claims are inaccurate and the legal position is that while trans individuals are protected under the characteristic of gender reassignment, the lawful provision of single-sex spaces based on biological sex is both permitted and in many cases required.

It is essential that workplace policies are based on the law and not on ideological misinformation.

Use this if you want an informal resolution

I hope this matter can be addressed informally in the first instance, but I reserve the right to escalate the concern through formal grievance channels if necessary.

Use this if you are raising a formal grievance

I have attempted to resolve this informally by [briefly state what steps you’ve taken, such as “raising the issue with my manager on [date]”], but the matter remains unresolved. I am therefore submitting this letter as a formal grievance under the organisation’s grievance policy.

Sign-off

I look forward to a written response within seven days or in accordance with the company’s procedures. Please let me know if you require any further information or would like to arrange a meeting.

Yours sincerely,
[name]

Feedback

Let us know if you succeed, or if you hit a brick wall: email [email protected].