NSPCC’s ‘confused’ gender guidance puts children at risk, warns charity
The NSPCC’s gender guidance is “confused” and potentially putting children at risk by encouraging them to use opposite-sex changing rooms, a charity has warned.
The child protection organisation’s unit for keeping children safe in sport “actively encourages” organisations to put children in harm’s way, the campaign group Sex Matters has claimed.
The group has written the Department for Education (DfE) urging them to force the NSPCC to alter its stance
It follows several scandals over the NSPCC’s approach to trans ideology over recent years.
The Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU) was established in 2001 under the NSPCC umbrella in response to a series of child-abuse scandals.
It receives public funding in the form of grants by Sport England and UK Sport, among others, as well as the Football Association.
A CPSU briefing document from May 2022 titled “Safe use of changing facilities and toilets” attempts to help sports clubs and other organisations safely manage children’s changing room procedures.
However, Sex Matters has said that, in practice, the guidance “runs counter to good safeguarding practice” by “ignoring” biological sex in favour of gender.
In guidance relating to transgender and non-binary children, the document says: “Using gendered changing facilities can be a source of stress for transgender and non-binary children.
“Sport and activity providers should consider how to support these young people to use the changing rooms that they feel comfortable with.”
Sex Matters said that this implied that children should be able to choose facilities intended for the opposite biological sex.
“The guidance would lead to a boy being allowed to change with girls (and sometimes women) or a girl to change with boys (and sometimes men) in a changing room that is designated ‘single sex’, and being supervised by staff or volunteers of the opposite sex.”
The guidance also states that it is “considered good practice to ensure that children are supervised by staff or volunteers of the same gender while changing”.
Sex Matters said that by using the word “gender” rather than “sex” ignores risks.
It points to similar criticism at a 2024 NSPCC schools briefing which states: “Mixed gender changing areas are less appropriate as children get older.”
The campaign group said: “There is nothing inappropriate about a girl who identifies as “non-binary” or “transmasc”, or as a “trans boy”, changing with other girls.
“The NSPCC suggests that schools and sports organisations should consider this a ‘mixed gender’ situation, when in fact it remains single sex.”
In April, The Telegraph reported that an NSPCC whistleblower had quit the charity after claiming that it had been “completely captured” by the campaign group Stonewall.
It came amid a gathering backlash against gender ideology with the publication of the Cass review this year, which found that the evidence for allowing children to change gender was built on “shaky foundations”.
Last year it was revealed that the Childline website, which is overseen by the NSPCC, was accused of failing children after teenagers who believed they were trans were told via the site to seek potentially dangerous treatments behind their parents’ backs.
Sex Matters is led by Maya Forstater, whose legal battle with her former employer established the principle that gender critical beliefs are protected in law.
In a letter to Janet Daby, DfE minister, seen by The Telegraph, she writes: “Remembering what sex children are is crucial to safeguarding children.”
‘Situations of potential risk and harm’
She adds: “The [CPSU] guidance actively encourages organisations to put children in situations of potential risk and harm, and to undermine record-keeping.”
“This is the opposite of safeguarding.”
The government has completed a consultation on draft non-statutory guidance for schools and colleges for children questioning their gender and is considering the evidence.
The guidance states that schools must protect single-sex lavatories, showers and changing rooms.
A spokesman for the NSPCC said: “The NSPCC is committed to protecting and supporting all children, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
“These are protected characteristics under the Equality Act and all our policies, advice and guidance are in line with the protections afforded by law, in addition to the guidance issued by the NHS.”
The DfE was approached for comment.