Navigating complexity: responding to the EHRC draft Code
Navigating complexity: responding to the EHRC draft Code
Amy Butterworth, Director of Gender and Wellbeing, explores how businesses can respond thoughtfully and practically to the EHRC’s updated draft Code.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)’s updated draft Code of Practice, published last week, highlights the growing complexity business leaders are navigating following the 2025 Supreme Court ruling on sex and gender. This is not simply a legal update: the Code, and the debate surrounding it, reflect the practical and sensitive challenges organisations are already facing across workplaces.
Decisions about facilities, inclusion and workplace practices are already playing out, and how they are handled will shape trust, psychological safety and culture across organisations. The challenge for business is clear: compliance alone will not be enough. Businesses that only focus on the minimum required may struggle to create environments that feel respectful, workable and inclusive for everyone.
In our view, the Code does not answer many of the practical questions that organisations are grappling with. Yet this gap in answers provides an opportunity for leading businesses: now is the moment to show leadership by reviewing your approach, equipping your people and creating the conditions for respectful, workable practice across your organisation.
This means navigating increased complexity, heightened sensitivities and differing lived experiences among customers, service users and employees. It means recognising that members of the trans community may feel vulnerable or unsafe where decisions are inconsistent or exclusionary, and that they must be protected from discrimination under the law. Those with gender critical beliefs are also protected under the Equality Act and should be able to express their views lawfully without harassment.
While the draft Code is not employer-facing guidance – we expect that to follow – the implications for workplace culture and practice are immediate, and employees and customers are already watching how organisations respond.
Insights from The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality 2025
Five practical actions businesses should take now:
1. Review policies and practice areas impacted by the draft Code. This should include facilities, service access and eligibility, as well as how your staff engage with the public. Make sure you communicate your approach clearly to both your customers and staff.
2. Speak to people before making changes and ensure all voices are heard: this is an issue that affects everyone across your organisation. Work with employee networks, unions or staff representatives, HR, legal and operational leaders to help you understand the likely impact and avoid making changes that may be legally defensible but do not work in practice.
3. Equip staff, particularly managers and those in customer-facing roles, with scenario-based guidance and practical training, not just a policy document. Sensitive issues will arise, so make sure your people can respond confidently and know when and how to escalate concerns.
4. Create clear routes for respectful dialogue and early resolution. Think about how you can use facilitated conversations, active bystander training and clear reporting channels to help teams raise concerns early, challenge poor behaviour among colleagues and customers, and reduce the risk of conflict escalating.
5. Put leadership accountability behind this work. Assign executive ownership, set review deadlines, track themes from employee listening and, most importantly, ensure senior leaders clearly communicate that dignity, safety and respectful behaviour are non-negotiable for everyone.
Done well, this is an opportunity to build trust, strengthen culture, and demonstrate what inclusive leadership looks like in practice. Done poorly, it will expose gaps in leadership, undermine psychological safety, and increase the risk of conflict across your organisation.
At Business in the Community, we support our members to navigate complex and sensitive business issues like this through practical advice and expertise, peer discussion and learning with other organisations. If you are not yet a member, get in touch to find out how you and your business can benefit from BITC membership.
