HFEA fees
The HFEA does not charge individual patients for fertility treatment. Clinics, both NHS and private, pay a fee to the HFEA towards the costs of being regulated and inspected.
The fee is based on the number of treatments clinics carry out. Currently the fees are:
- £75 for each cycle of in vitro fertilisation (IVF)
- £37.50 for each cycle of donor insemination.
Some private clinics pass this fee onto their patients as an additional item on the bill.
Others cover this cost in their overall treatment fees, just as they cover other costs of running a clinic. If you are paying for treatment, ask your clinic about their practice.
Fees for elective single embryo transfer cycles
In April 2012, we changed the way we charge clinics for treatments involving elective single embryo transfer (eSET).
All full cycles of IVF where the initial transfer was an eSET will be charged one single fee of £75, regardless of how many frozen embryo transfers follow. In effect, all transfers following an initial eSET will not be charged, subject to a small number of exceptions. This differs from non-eSETs, where clinics are charged £75 for every frozen embryo transfer.
Those clinics which pass on HFEA treatment fees to their patients should pass on these fee reductions in the same way. It’s important you talk to your clinician about this.
Benefits of the HFEA fee
The benefit of the HFEA fees to you, as a patient, is that you know that an HFEA licensed clinic is complying with the law and is providing safe and appropriate treatment.
HFEA publishes inspection reports for each clinic.
Page last updated: 23 August 2012