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31 March 2000

Dear Colleague,

Notification of Changes to Licence Fees

The Secretary of State for Health and the Treasury set the HFEA's annual budget and financial targets. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 requires the payment of licence fees by clinics. The HFEA's budget for 2000/01 is £1,559,000, and the Treasury requires the HFEA to raise 70% of this from licence fees. With regard to the latter, the HFEA negotiates with the Department of Health, but it must comply with the Department's decisions.

The HFEA is aware that, as the number of IVF treatment cycles is increasing each year, the overall level of income received will progressively exceed the agreed target of 70%. The HFEA brought this issue to the attention of the Department of Health and the Treasury in 1998.

As you may be aware, licence fees have not changed since 1st September 1994. The 1990 Act states that in setting the fees the HFEA may have regard to the costs of performing all of its functions. However, it has been agreed with the Department of Health and the Treasury that the HFEA should recover only those costs directly associated with its licensing functions.

In 1998 the HFEA commissioned an independent review of the licence fee income system. The changes in fees notified in this letter reflect that review's conclusions. These were based on the Treasury's requirement for the HFEA to recover the full cost of licensing DI and IVF centres. While retaining the basic structure, a revised level of fee was calculated for each element so that the amount charged more accurately reflected the true cost. In arriving at these new fee levels thought has been given to avoiding any large swings that might unbalance provision of treatment. The effect of these changes is to ensure that the amount of income received by the HFEA in licence fees does not exceed 70% of its income.

Initial Fees for Treatment Clinics

Initial fees (payable on application for a licence) will be increased from £250 to £500 per application. The new rate will come into effect on 1st October 2000. Clinics with licences for periods longer than one year will pay their initial fee only when they apply for their centre's licence to be renewed. The initial fee paid by treatment centres will also cover any research projects undertaken by them during that period.

Initial fee for small donor insemination only centres (those that carried out 49 or less treatment cycles in the period covered by their last HFEA invoice), will remain at £250. All other DI only centres will be charged the new rate of £500 from 1st October 2000.

Initial Fees for Research Only Centres and Storage Only Centres

From 1st October 2000 the initial fee to be paid by centres applying only for a research licence or a storage-only licence will be increased to £200. This fee will cover all of research applications made by a research only centre received in the same financial year (1st April to 31st March).

Changes to Additional Fees

Additional fees (i.e. per cycle of DI and IVF treatments) are payable before a licence is issued and are based on the centre's treatment data for the previous 12 month period. Where a clinic has been granted a licence for a period of more than one year, additional fees will continue to be paid annually.

Decrease in In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) Fees per Treatment Cycle

IVF fees will be decreased from £40 to £36 per treatment cycle from 1st April 2000. This reduced fee level will remain in place for all invoices raised up to 31st March 2001.

Increase in Donor Insemination (DI) Fees per Treatment Cycle

DI fees will be increased from £10 to £14 per treatment cycle for all invoices raised from 1st October 2000 to 31st March 2001, and, provisionally increased again from £14 to £18 per treatment cycle for all invoices raised from 1st April 2001 to 31st March 2002. Again, provisionally, they will be set at the level of £20 for the period 1st April 2002 to 31st March 2004.

It is also possible that the fee levels given in this letter might change once the HFEA's budget for 2001/04 and the amount of the HFEA's income that must be raised from licence fee income over that period is known. We do not expect the Department of Health to notify us of these figures until late December 2000. In any event, we anticipate reviewing fee levels on an annual basis. You will be advised as soon as possible of any resulting changes in fee levels. If any fees must rise, you will be given notice before the increased fee level is introduced. Any change will take effect from 1st April each year.

We will shortly be producing a patient leaflet explaining the services the HFEA provides funded partly by the income it receives from licence fees.

If you have any queries about the new system, please contact the HFEA's Finance Manager, Gill Davidson, on 0171 377 5077 (ext. 204). 

Yours sincerely,

Ruth Deech
Chairman

Page last updated: 14 April 2009

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