MPs fear UK equality watchdog may take months to sign off gender guidance

The concerns are in part due to worries about the ability of Kishwer Falkner, the EHRC chair, to be seen as a fair arbiter of how the ruling should be implemented. Photograph: Peter Hogan/Alamy

Formal guidance on how organisations should implement the supreme court ruling on gender may not be fully signed off for months, officials and MPs have warned, amid increasing worries about the capability of the government’s equalities watchdog.

While the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has promised to complete the process by the end of July, a series of insiders have told the Guardian they believe this may not happen until after the watchdog’s controversial chair, Kishwer Falkner, is replaced in November.