Financial cost of Gender Recognition Act legal case: FOI release

Information requested

Can you please provide what the financial cost to date pursuing the Gender Recognition Act through the various courts and ultimately to the appeal court of appeal decision to clarify the position.

Response

The Scottish Government has not been involved in any legal challenges to the Gender Recognition Act 2004.

However, I assume you are referring to the recent court case in the UK Supreme Court on the meaning of “man”, “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010. This case made mention of the Gender Recognition Act 2004.

Information on this case is at For Women Scotland Ltd (Appellant) v The Scottish Ministers (Respondent) - UK Supreme Court This case was considered by the Court of Session and was then appealed to the Supreme Court.

The Scottish Government has published some information already on costs.

This is available at:

• Legal costs for judicial review on gender representation on public boards: FOI release - gov.scot
• Inner House appeal on the statutory guidance for the Gender Representation: FOI release - gov.scot
• Legal costs of Supreme Court case against For Women Scotland: FOI release - gov.scot

Final costs in relation to the case are still being determined and are not yet available. When making a statement to the Scottish Parliament on the Supreme Court judgment Meeting of the Parliament: 22/04/2025 | Scottish Parliament Website, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP, said when responding to a question from Jackie Baillie MSP: “We will be able to publish the cost of the case when it is fully complete. As further costs might emerge, at this point I am unable to give Jackie Baillie a number. However, those matters will be made public— that is certainly what I have done in previous cases. I will keep the member updated on that.” That remains the position.

The Scottish Government proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament. The Bill was prevented from proceeding to Royal Assent by an Order made by the Secretary of State for Scotland. The Scottish Government challenged this Order in the Court of Session by way of a judicial review but were unsuccessful. For the purposes of responding to your FOI request, I have assumed you are not referring to this case as the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill was about reforming the Gender Recognition Act 2004 rather than about clarifying it.

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