Britain’s biggest bank has told trans women not to use female lavatories after the equalities watchdog said single-sex spaces should be defined by biology.
Lloyds Banking Group, which has 28 million customers across the UK, has told staff to use bathrooms that correspond with their biological sex rather than their chosen gender.
The banking giant updated its policies after Britain’s equalities watchdog issued new guidance last week. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said single sex spaces must be used on the basis of biological sex.
The new guidance applies to all organisations that provide public services, with a future update planned for private sector employers.
Not all lenders have adjusted their policies. A spokesman for Coventry Building Society, which also owns the Co-op Bank, said: “We are in the process of reviewing our guidance.”
‘An unsettling day’
The EHRC update was issued in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling last April, in which it determined that the words “man” and “woman” refer to a person’s biological sex, instead of their gender, under the Equality Act.
In the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court’s judgment, Lloyds Bank executives pledged “solidarity” with trans staff.
In a post on Lloyds Bank’s intranet last year, Andrew Walton, the bank’s chief of corporate affairs, wrote: “Thought I would come on here today with a note of support for our trans and non-binary colleagues on what I know will be an unsettling day following the UK Supreme Court decision.”
Lloyds Banking Group, which owns Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Scottish Widows, has 65,000 staff.
The lender initially held off on changing its bathroom policies even as rivals adjusted theirs. Barclays said it would prohibit trans women from using female bathrooms shortly after the Supreme Court judgment.
Speaking to reporters at the time, CS Venkatakrishnan, Barclays’ chief executive, said: “Following the Supreme Court ruling … we believe that we have to comply with that by not allowing trans women to use female bathrooms.”
A series of employment tribunal cases have since highlighted the perils faced by organisations that continue to let people use bathrooms based on their chosen gender.
A Muslim woman employed by NHS England won a discrimination case earlier this month after a trans colleague was allowed to use female toilets.
It is understood Lloyds Bank will also provide “gender-inclusive” unisex bathrooms.
A report from campaign group Sex Matters, published earlier this month, found leading banks including HSBC and NatWest were continuing to let staff use bathrooms based on their preferred gender.
Lloyds Banking Group declined to comment. HSBC and NatWest were approached for comment.