Exclusive:Council 'flouting law' by allowing trans women to use female-only post-prison support service
City of Edinburgh Council has been criticised over its decision to allow trans women to use the female only Willow Service
Edinburgh’s council has been accused of ‘flouting the law’ after it emerged trans women are using a service designed for vulnerable women.
The Willow Service is a women-only project for those who have been involved in the criminal justice system and suffer trauma.
However, figures released under freedom of information show the service is also open to trans women.
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The council’s response said: “The Willow Service offers a gender specific service to women who are or have been involved with the Justice System, irrespective of whether they were born female at birth or not.”
This is despite the Supreme Court’s ruling in For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers that determined “sex” means biological sex and not gender.
Susan Smith of For Women Scotland said: “Once again, we see a service funded by public money deliberately flouting the law and using the insulting, reductive term "gender specific" to explain their position.”
Ms Smith pointed out the majority of women who find themselves in prison have backgrounds of domestic abuse and trauma.
These are, she said, “very sex specific”.
“All the work we, and others, have done to identify the trans identifying men in prisons reveals a very different cohort: often violent sex offenders or murderers,” Ms Smith added.
“It is especially troubling that these men may have been in community groups with vulnerable women.
“Some will have been assessed as too dangerous to be held in the female estate, others will be men who traumatised women in prison.
“Even free, it seems, the women cannot escape them.”
Figures released by the council show that over the past few years some nine trans women have used the Willow Service.
The council response said “women who were not female at birth” continue to use the service.
With input from NHS Lothian and third sector groups, it supports more than 500 women in Edinburgh every year who are or have been involved in the criminal justice system.
The service offers both group and one-to-one support and services in locations across Edinburgh including in prison, homes and the community.
The council said this includes “a variety of gender neutral social work offices across the city”.
Dr Kath Murray of the public policy group Murray Blackburn Mackenzie said: “The UKSC ruling was crystal clear: organisations which offer services or spaces for women can only be for biological females.
“It is well documented that most women in the criminal justice system have histories of sexual and domestic abuse, alongside poor mental health.
“Countless reports have underscored the necessity of women-only spaces and services to address these complex needs effectively.
“There is no justification in law for a women’s service to cater for men, whether they express a trans identity or not.”
City of Edinburgh Council was asked whether criminal justice social workers are informed that the service, which was set up in 2009, accepts trans women.
The council was also asked how many trans-identified men self-referred to The Willow Service and how many were on court orders.
A spokeswoman did not respond to these questions.
She said: “We acknowledge the Supreme Court’s ruling in For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers, and have already taken steps to review and adapt our physical spaces in line with legislation.
“The ruling does not require the Council to provide single-sex services, but instead means that we have a responsibility to provide services on the basis of sex assigned at birth.”
The council said that in providing services to the “small number of transgender women” who use The Willow Service “appropriate action” has been taken to ensure all clients are “safe and comfortable”.
“Making sure that women who use this service are supported and treated with respect and kindness is our focus, while also managing individual’s risk and vulnerability - prioritising safety for all those who use our services, and the wider public,” the spokeswoman added.
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