Trans women arrested on Britain’s railways will in future be strip-searched by male officers in an updated policy after a landmark ruling by the supreme court.
The British Transport Police said same-sex searches in custody would be conducted “in accordance with the biological birth sex of the detainee” under updated guidance for public bodies.
Under the force’s previous policy, officers had been told that anyone in custody with a gender recognition certificate would be searched by an officer matching a detainee’s acquired gender.
Judges in the UK’s most senior court ruled unanimously on Wednesday that the legal definition of a woman in the Equality Act 2010 did not include transgender women who hold gender recognition certificates.
A spokesperson for BTP said: “Under previous policy, we had advised that someone with a gender recognition certificate may be searched in accordance with their acquired sex.
“However, as an interim position while we digest yesterday’s judgment, we have advised our officers that any same-sex searches in custody are to be undertaken in accordance with the biological birth sex of the detainee.
“We are in the process of reviewing the implications of the ruling and will consider any necessary updates to our policies and practices in line with the law and national guidance.”
The update comes during a legal battle between gender-critical campaigners and the force over its guidance that allowed transgender officers to strip-search women.
The policy allowed trans women on staff to intimately search women so long as they had a gender recognition certificate.
Maya Forstater, the chief executive of the human rights charity Sex Matters, said: “This change of position by British Transport Police is a welcome sign that yesterday’s supreme court judgment will have a huge impact.
“Even before the judgment, Sex Matters argued that BTP’s policy was unlawful. It said that male officers with gender recognition certificates – that is, men with paperwork saying they were women – could carry out searches, including strip-searches, on female detainees. And it said that female officers were expected to search male detainees if they identified as women.
“This policy was based on the demands of the trans lobby, and completely ignored women’s fundamental human rights. Female officers we interviewed told us about being pressured to carry out searches on men who claimed to be women, and how humiliating and degrading they found that.”
A BTP spokesperson confirmed the judicial review was under way, and so could not comment further. A spokesperson for Sex Matters has been approached for comment.
After criticism in January, the National Police Chiefs’ Council suspended similar guidance permitting trans women to intimately search women.
Updated guidance for public bodies after the supreme court’s ruling is expected to be issued by the summer, the head of the equalities regulator said on Thursday.
Kishwer Falkner, the chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, described the ruling as “enormously consequential”. She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We are going to have a new statutory code of practice, statutory meaning it will be the law of the land, it will be interpreted by courts as the law of the land. We’re hoping we’re going to have that by the summer.”
She said it would give “clarity” that trans women could not participate in women’s sports or use women-only toilets or changing rooms, and said the NHS must update its guidance on single-sex wards based on biological sex.
Asked if the supreme court ruling was “a victory for common sense”, she said: “Only if you recognise that trans people exist, they have rights and their rights must be respected. Then it becomes a victory for common sense.
“It’s not a victory for an increase in unpleasant actions against trans people. We will not tolerate that. We stand here to defend trans people as much as we do anyone else. So I want to make that very clear.”
