'Irretrievable harm' caused to families by postcode lottery response to trans-identifying pupils
An extensive study of local authorities across Scotland show a ‘mishmash’ of how transgender-identifying children and their families are supported
Families have been "irretrievably harmed" by schools failing to inform parents when their children identify as transgender, campaigners have warned.
A wide-ranging Scotland-wide study of local authorities shows an inconsistent approach in involving parents in discussions about pupils transitioning.
National guidance allows for child confidentiality yet there is a “postcode lottery” of how parents might be involved by the school about their child.
The study, using freedom of information responses, was carried out by the Women’s Rights Network (WRN) and ScotPAG, Scottish Professionals Advising on Gender.
Mary Howden, of the WRN, said: “Our FOIs show that Scottish councils are facilitating the social transition of children while collecting no data, conducting almost no risk assessments, and often keeping parents in the dark.
“This is morally and legally reprehensible.
“It is not safeguarding, it is a failure of the most basic duty of care.
“They are intervening in children’s lives in ways that can lead to irreversible harm, then failing to have oversight of how many children are affected or what happens to them.”
Evidence was gathered from 26 councils - or 81 per cent - that responded to FOI requests.
Glasgow and Edinburgh city councils, Scotland’s two largest, did not provide data.
However, those that did respond show parental involvement is inconsistent.
Councils follow the Scottish government’s national guidance case-by-case approach, which allows for pupil privacy and does not require automatic parental notification.
ScotPAG and WRN, both campaign groups formed by experts including social workers and psychologists, say this creates a “postcode lottery” for parents regarding how they might be involved by the school about their child.
Carolyn Brown, of ScotPAG, said: “There is a lottery in terms of parental involvement.
“I'm in touch with quite a lot of parents.
“The families have been irretrievably harmed already because their kids have been told at school that they can change sex.
“The children are adults now and the relationships are totally fractured between the parents and the adult child, not solely as a result of education but they’ve got a strong message from education.
“It was clearly a mishmash of what the council was directing schools to do.
“Some included parents, some did this on a case by case basis.
“But parents are being excluded from decision making about their own children.”
No local authorities reported recording any data around which children identify as transgender.
Schools only collate figures on whether pupils are male or female but no additional equality information.
All responding councils confirmed they hold no central data on the number or proportion of pupils who identify as transgender, non- binary or under the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.
Ms Brown added: “If you're going to make such a song and dance about insisting that this is in schools and embedded in schools, and given the vulnerabilities of the children that fall into this category, should you not be testing out whether this is something that actually works?
“This is a huge initiative that has had a lot of money spent on it and we don’t know what it’s doing.
“Without data it is impossible to evaluate.
“Is this even an issue? Do we know if children who identify as trans have other additional support needs?
“Are we missing something here?”
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Reponses also show that impact assessments in schools are rare.
The majority of councils reported that no Equality Impact Assessments, Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessments or specific safeguarding assessments had been carried out in relation to this area since April 2025.
There was also a patchwork adoption of the new EHRC guidance following the Supreme Court ruling that “sex” means biological sex.
Only six councils, according the FOI returns, were clear that they provide single-sex toilets and changing facilities.
The 17 other council education services have a mixture of gender neutral toilets and changing facilities.
Ms Brown added: “Councils and the Scottish government tend to see the Supreme Court ruling and their response to it as simply being about toilets and changing facilities
“They haven’t got their act together about that in terms of toilets and changing facilities - there seems to be a lot of variation.”
The report find there has been a limited response only to the Supreme Court ruling. Councils have made few or no substantive local updates beyond facilities.
Where changes have occurred, they are largely confined to toilets and changing rooms.
Facilities provision is also highly variable, the report found.
Responses ranged from clear single-sex provision based on biological sex to widespread use of accessible or gender-neutral facilities.
The picture is inconsistent, Ms Brown said, and, in some cases, potentially non-compliant with the law.
Councils reported almost universal adoption of the Supporting Transgender Pupils in Schools guidance and LGBT Inclusive Education guidance.
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Ms Brown said: “We would argue that education is going down a very tricky and dark path by putting an ideology that's completely unproven and for which there's no evidence in reality, in schools.
“It's actually harmful to all pupils, not just the vulnerable ones, because you're asking pupils to believe in something that's unproven and counterfactual.”
Professional development for staff remains limited.
A substantial number of councils reported no training since January 2025.
Where training exists, it is based on national guidance, third sector involvement, or generic equality materials rather than critical examination of evidence or safeguarding principles, the report writers found.
“There seems to be little understanding of the risks of social transition, and there seems to be little understanding of the safeguarding implications of basically allowing for children to self-identify,” Ms Brown added.
“Any thinking council would have explored this a bit more from the Supreme Court ruling.
“Education services have a responsibility to maintain safeguarding and to understand the risks of any ideology in schools.”
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