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Trans staff: summary of legal rights

Understand your legal responsibilities around supporting staff who identify as trans in the workplace and learn how to make informed decisions around the arrangements you put in place.

Updated
on 29 May 2026See updates
School types: All•School phases: All•Ref: 34339
Contents
  1. Note on terminology
  2. Seek legal advice on any challenging decisions you make 
  3. Understand your legal responsibilities 
  4. What this looks like in practice 

This is a complex and evolving topic, and our understanding is moving on all the time.

While we can’t give a steer on individual cases, here we set out the essential rules to follow and some considerations to have in mind. It’s likely you’ll need to seek legal guidance on more complex situations (see more below). The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) also recommends seeking specialist legal advice – find out more on the EHRC's website.

Note on terminology The EHRC's draft code of practice on the Equality Act 2010 uses the term 'trans' to mean a person who has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment. 'Trans' is also used by the trans community as an umbrella term describing people "whose gender is not the same as, or does