LGBTQ+ fertility care: Legal and funding FAQs

In the UK, funding for fertility treatment depends on where you live.

Each area of the country is managed by a local integrated care board (ICB), which sets the budget and funding for that region.

Lesbian partners or same-sex female couples and individuals may be able to access the following funding:

• NHS-funded IVF if they haven’t conceived after 6-12 self-funded cycles of IUI or artificial insemination

• Six cycles of funded IUI if you live in Scotland

You may also need to meet additional criteria, such as non-smoking status, a BMI between 19-30, no previous children, and age.

You can find out more about funding in your area by contacting your GP, or you can get in touch with us to find out your options.

Access Fertility offers schemes in the UK to help with the cost of IVF, and receive a refund if you don’t have a baby.

Their schemes are available for same-sex female couples, including to have reciprocal IVF.

LGBT Mummies offers a variety of support groups that can also help provide guidance.

The main path to parenthood for same-sex male partners is surrogacy or adoption.

Currently, surrogacy and IVF for surrogacy are not funded in the UK, so you will need to pay for the cost of treatment yourself.

It’s illegal to pay a surrogate in the UK.

Your costs will involve reimbursing the surrogate for any expenses and paying for treatments related to the surrogacy, such as a fertility assessment and IVF.

If you’re using your sperm in fertility treatment, you’ll need to have a semen analysis to assess the quality of your sperm.

Depending on where you live, you might be able to get a sperm count test through your GP.

However, many private fertility clinics will require you to undergo a complete fertility assessment before starting IVF for surrogacy using your sperm.

The Fertility Foundation is a UK charity that provides grants for fertility treatment, including surrogacy for same-sex male couples.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is responsible for setting guidance around fertility treatment funding.

Currently, they don’t provide specific guidance for trans and non-binary people and those who have had or seek gender-affirming treatment.

As for everyone, access to funding for fertility care depends on where you live.

Whether you’re able to have NHS-funded fertility preservation or treatment, and there may be limits on how long you can have funding for storage.

The best thing to do to find out your funding options is to speak to your GP or get in touch with your local gender clinic.

You can find a list of clinics here.

We appreciate the lack of specific information is frustrating.

There are charities providing support for trans, non-binary and gender-questioning people, and they may be able to offer more advice:

• Gendered Intelligence

• Mermaids UK

• Support groups provided by Equality for Trans Families and LGBT Mummies

Funding for LGBTQ+ singles is similar to couples.

• Single females will need to self-fund 6-12 cycles of IUI or artificial insemination to become eligible for NHS-funded IVF

• As well as meeting additional criteria for BMI, smoking status, previous children, and age

• Surrogacy is not NHS-funded, so single males using a surrogate will need to cover costs related to treatment, such as IVF for a surrogate

The Fertility Foundation is a UK charity that provides grants for fertility treatment, including treatment and surrogacy for single people.

It’s illegal to pay for a surrogate.

But you’ll usually cover expenses related to the surrogacy, and these costs can be high.

There’s no legal definition of a reasonable reimbursement, but it will usually factor in the cost of treatment, travel expenses and any time required off work.

Typically, it ranges between £12,000 - £35,000.

You’ll also need to cover any treatment costs, which could include:

• Fertility assessments for yourself, the egg donor, or the surrogate

• IUI if the surrogate is using their own eggs

• IVF with an egg donor if the surrogate is not using their eggs (full/gestational surrogacy)

The cost of IVF treatment varies. It’s not possible to have NHS-funded IVF for surrogacy.

Find your nearest TFP Fertility clinic to see a breakdown of typical IVF costs.

At TFP Fertility, we only support surrogacy where at least one of the two gametes (the eggs or sperm) have come from the intended parents or the surrogate.

Here are some possible examples:

• A surrogate can use your or your partner’s eggs, with donor sperm

• A surrogate can use donor eggs, with your or your partner’s sperm

• A surrogate can use their own eggs, with donor sperm

• A surrogate can use their own eggs, with yours or your partner’s sperm

The rules around surrogacy and legal parenthood can be complex.

We always require that each person involved seeks independent legal advice before entering into a surrogacy agreement.

In the UK, the birth parent is always the legal parent. This means that the surrogate would be the legal mother or parent, even if she uses yours or your partner’s egg or sperm.

If the surrogate is married or civil partnered, their partner becomes the other legal parent.

However, if the surrogate is not married or civil partnered and the sperm provider is an intended parent then they would automatically become the second legal parent.

If the surrogate and intended parents wish the non-gamete provider to be the second legal parent, the surrogate and intended second legal parent can use the HFEA SWP and SPP forms to provide for this.

There are a number of conditions that must be met, so it is important to raise this with your clinic at the outset.

In instances where the gamete providers are not intended parents (i.e. when using donor sperm with donor eggs or donor embryos are used), you will need to apply for a parental order after the birth of the child to transfer legal parenthood to yourself and your partner or co-parent.

This needs to happen before the child is six months old and, in some cases, can take several months to come into effect.

There are specific conditions that must be met to be eligible for a parental order, for example, one of the intended parents much be genetically linked to the child.

If you do not meet the requirements for a parental order, then an adoption order is required.

It’s important to know that TFP Fertility only supports surrogacy where one of the intended parents provides their gametes and meet the other requirements for a parental order.

Only the birthing parent (the surrogate) is entitled to maternity leave.

The intended parents are entitled to unpaid leave to go to two antenatal appointments with the surrogate, with each one lasting up to 6.5 hours.

If you meet the conditions, you are entitled to parental leave and pay once you apply for an adoption or parental order.

Learn more about parental leave rights in the UK.