Last year the EHRC ran a 12-week consultation on wider revisions to the Code of Practice, made then to reflect a range of significant developments in legislation and case law since it was first published in 2011.

In light of the Supreme Court’s consequential ruling, and the widely expressed desire for authoritative guidance on its implications, the equality regulator launched a six-week consultation on 20 May on some further updates that reflect its revised understanding of the law following the judgment.

This timeframe struck a balance between gathering comprehensive stakeholder input and addressing the urgent need for clarity among duty-bearers and wider society. By the 11.59pm deadline on Monday 30 June, a total of 25,825 completed responses and a further 25,774 partial responses to the English-language survey were received.

Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: “I’d like to thank everyone who submitted their views on how our Code of Practice could be made even clearer.

“At the EHRC, it’s our job to provide authoritative advice on how the Equality Act should be put into practice – to help service providers comply with the law and give service users confidence that they are doing so.

“Your feedback will help us ensure our guidance does just that.

“Over the past six weeks we have received responses from affected individuals, duty bearers, legal professionals and other interested organisations. While the consultation was ongoing, we met with, and answered questions from, stakeholders representing affected protected characteristic groups and parliamentarians from Westminster, Holyrood and the Senedd. I’m grateful to all those who joined us at one of these sessions and hope they found them insightful.

“Now the consultation deadline has passed, we will carefully consider the information submitted to us and amend the Code of Practice where necessary.

“When we have completed this process and finalised the text of the Code, we will submit to the Minister for Women and Equalities for approval. It will then be for the UK government to manage the process and timing of laying the Code of Practice in Parliament, on its way to becoming statutory guidance.”