Sex, gender identity, trans status - data collection and publication: guidance
Guidance for public bodies on the collection of data on sex and gender.
Covering note
This guidance is no longer being updated following the publication by the Government Statistical Service of a UK-wide harmonised standard on the collection of data on sex.
Statistics producers in Scotland are now advised to refer instead to the GSS guidance when deciding whether and how to collect data on sex. Producers may also refer to guidance published by the Office for Statistics Regulation on collecting and reporting data about sex and gender identity in official statistics.
Supreme Court Judgment on the meaning of sex in the Equality Act 2010
The Scottish Government’s guidance was published prior to the judgment by the UK Supreme Court in April 2025 which ruled that sex, for the purposes of the Equality Act, refers to biological sex unmodified by a Gender Recognition Certificate. This means that sex-based protections under the Equality Act must be based on biological sex, that is, the sex of a person at birth.
Following the Supreme Court Judgment, there may be a requirement for statistics producers to collect data on the basis of sex at birth where the purpose of data collection relates to obligations under equalities legislation.
Statistics producers who wish to collect data for these purposes should refer to the GSS Harmonised Standard.
Collecting data on gender identity
The Government Statistical Service plans to publish a harmonised standard on the collection of data on gender identity in 2027. Until then, statistics producers in Scotland who have identified a user need to collect data about gender identity may wish to continue to use the question on trans status or history included in the Scottish Government guidance.