UK Charities: Single-Sex Rules Threaten Trans Mental Health

Published: 08 December 2025. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online.

Fifteen of Britain’s leading mental health organisations have issued a powerful warning to the government. They fear that new official guidance on single-sex spaces could seriously damage the mental wellbeing of transgender and non-binary people across the country.

In an open letter sent to Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson, charities including Samaritans, Mind, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and the Centre for Mental Health expressed “deep concern”. They believe the forthcoming guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) threatens to deepen existing inequalities and create new risks for an already vulnerable community.

The charities made their position crystal clear. They stated that mental health services must remain places of refuge and safety. Any policy that makes trans or non-binary people feel unwelcome, fearful, or humiliated would have the opposite effect.

At the heart of the dispute lies a Supreme Court ruling from April this year. The court decided that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex. The EHRC quickly published interim advice suggesting that transgender women should generally not use female-only toilets, changing rooms, or refuges. A leaked draft seen by The Times went further. It indicated that staff could challenge someone’s presence in a single-sex space based on appearance, behaviour, or complaints from others.

Mental health experts say this approach would be devastating. Trans and non-binary individuals already face some of the highest rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts in the UK. Much of this distress comes from stigma, exclusion, and fear of discrimination. The charities argue that forcing trans people to use facilities matching their sex assigned at birth, or subjecting them to questioning, would intensify those feelings of rejection and danger.

The letter highlights particular worries about inpatient psychiatric wards, crisis centres, and community mental health services. These are places where people are often at their most fragile. Feeling unsafe in such environments could deter individuals from seeking the help they desperately need.

Andy Bell, chief executive of the Centre for Mental Health, has called for an urgent meeting with Bridget Phillipson. He wants to find ways to protect both the dignity of trans people and the wider goal of fair access to single-sex services. The charities insist that safety and equality are not mutually exclusive.

The government has not rushed its decision. Bridget Phillipson has repeatedly said ministers will take whatever time is necessary to get the guidance right. She has stressed the importance of maintaining single-sex spaces for women while treating trans people with respect. Yet the longer the uncertainty lasts, the more anxiety it creates within affected communities.

Even the EHRC’s former chair, Baroness Falkner, admitted in September that many services would find it “difficult” to turn the new legal clarity into practical, day-to-day policies that feel fair to everyone.

For trans and non-binary people, the stakes could not be higher. Research consistently shows they experience bullying, harassment, and violence at far higher rates than the general population. When public spaces and essential services appear hostile, the impact on mental health can be profound and long-lasting.

The charities are clear: any guidance that prioritises biological sex over lived gender identity in all single-sex settings risks pushing an already marginalised group closer to crisis. They urge the government to listen carefully to lived experience and clinical expertise before finalising the rules.

As winter deepens and demand on mental health services grows, the hope is that ministers will choose a path that safeguards everyone’s dignity. No one should have to choose between their safety and their right to care.