Govt confirms: ‘Single-sex toilets required in new public buildings’

New public buildings such as schools, hospitals and theatres must include separate single-sex toilets, the Government has announced.

Following a call for evidence, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities highlighted that the “rise in ‘gender neutral’ toilets raised safety concerns from women who feel they are losing privacy and being unfairly disadvantaged”.

Gender-neutral toilets can be provided as an addition, but not instead of single-sex toilets.

‘Vital’

Kemi Badenoch MP, former Minister of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, said: “It is vital that women feel safe and comfortable when using public facilities, and that their needs are respected.

“These changes will ensure that separate toilets for men and women are preserved at the same time as providing universal toilets for those that want them. This is a common sense approach.”

Updated regulations will apply to public buildings over a certain size, which will be determined by a consultation due to be launched in the autumn.

The announcement confirms plans proposed by previous Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick, exclusively reported by The Daily Telegraph in May 2021.

Home Office

Last year, The Times reported that women working for the Home Office have to walk to other departments to avoid using the building’s gender-neutral toilets.

Some women have been forced to walk to the offices of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, after the Home Office spent almost £40,000 in 2018 removing sex-specific toilets.