Sex Matters, R (on the application of) v National Police Chiefs' Council & Anor

Facts

The claimant, Sex Matters, is a charity whose objects concern human rights as they relate to biological sex. It challenged, by way of judicial review, the 'Interim Guidance – Searching by Transgender officers and employees of the Police and the Searching of Transgender detainees' issued by the National Police Chiefs' Council (the NPCC) in May 2025, and Version 9 of the British Transport Police's 'Interim – Transgender and Non-Binary Search Guidance', issued 30 June 2025. The Guidance permits a transgender detainee to be strip-searched, exposing intimate parts, by a police officer of a different biological sex where both the detainee and the officer consent, notwithstanding section 54(9) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, requiring that the searching constable be of the same sex, and equivalent provisions in section 54A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and section 54B of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. Following For Women Scotland Ltd v Scottish Ministers, both sides agreed that 'sex' in this context means biological sex. Of three original grounds, the irrationality challenge to Annex L of PACE Code C was abandoned, and the public sector equality duty ground under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 was withdrawn by consent after Johnson J granted permission on the papers on 5 January 2026. The sole remaining agreed issue reached Mr Justice Linden at a hearing on 16 June 2026, with the Secretary of State for the Home Department joined as a neutral interested party.