Sperm, Egg and Embryo Donation
The HFEA has recorded information about donors and treatments using donated sperm, eggs and embryos, since it was established on 1st August 1991.
Read more about donor statistics
View the latest national data on the numbers of donors and treatments using donated sperm, eggs or embryos.
Background briefing
- Who are the donors?
- How many donors do we need?
- How does someone become a donor?
- Donating through a ‘private arrangement’ or unlicensed donation website
- Parenthood
- Attrition rates
- Payments and expenses
- The ten family limit
- What information does a donor provide to the HFEA?
- What information can someone involved in donation receive from the HFEA or the clinic?
- Impact of ICSI
- Foreign donors
- Anonymity and re-registration
- Embryo donation and registration of donors
- Before the HFEA
- Donation support groups and charities
Who are the donors?
The HFEA’s 2005 Sperm, Eggs and Embryo Donation (SEED) review included an analysis of the demographics of donors.
In 2004-05:
- more than 2 out of 3 sperm donors (69%) were aged over 30
- The most common age group for sperm donors is 36-40
- more than 2 out of 5 sperm donors (41.5%) already have children of their own
- just under a third of sperm donors (31.4%) have two or more children
While in 1994-1995:
- Sperm donors were most commonly aged between 18 – 24 years.
- Less than a third (32.2%) of sperm donors were over the age of 30
- Only 1 in 5 (21%) of sperm donors already had children of their own.
Over the same period, the changes were less marked in egg donors. Around 50% of egg donors were in the 31-35 age group.
The number of egg donors with children of their own fell, probably due to the rise in the number of ‘egg sharing’ schemes, where women donate their spare eggs at the same time as they receive fertility treatment themselves.
How many donors do we need?
The HFEA does not have figures for the number of patients on clinics’ waiting lists.
Patients from black and minority ethnic groups often find it more difficult to find suitable donors because there are fewer donors from these groups.
A very rough estimate of need is 1,200 egg donors and 500 sperm donors. But donors can specify the number of families their gametes are used to create, and may only donate to one family, perhaps where a sister or brother donates to help an infertile sibling. It is therefore very difficult to specify a particular number.
How does someone become a donor?
In the UK, donation usually takes place at HFEA licensed fertility clinics.
Anyone donating (or being treated) via a private arrangement or though an unlicensed service, such as a website, may encounter some serious risks. (see below)
There are some eligibility criteria for donors particularly around age and medical history.
Before beginning the process, donors should be aware of the legal issues around donation.
Donors must be offered counselling and must undergo certain screening tests in order to reduce the risks of passing on diseases or genetic conditions. In addition to guidance set out in its Code of Practice, the HFEA also requires clinics to carry out screening according to the latest professional screening guidelines.
Donors must be registered with the HFEA within 5 days of their eggs or sperm becoming available for use and after any counselling or screening.
Donors who donate only for research are not registered as donors. There are still strict requirements around consent, with additional guidance around egg donation for research.
Donating through a ‘private arrangement’ or unlicensed donation website
The HFEA recommends that people seeking to donate sperm or to be treated using donated sperm do so only through the UK's licensed clinics. This includes cases where the donor is known to the recipient.
People using unlicensed websites to obtain eggs or sperm for fertility treatment run a number of serious risks, particularly around the legality, paternity and screening.
If a patient finds a donor via a “donor website” but then chooses to go for treatment with that donor at a licensed clinic, the donor must undergo the usual registration and screening process. In addition, the clinic must be satisfied that no payments have been made to that donor other than those permitted for ‘‘reasonable expenses” for travel and loss of earnings.
Find out more below about:
Parenthood
The law (HFE Act 1990) states that men who donate sperm through HFEA licensed clinics are not the legal father of any child born as a result. The law does not cover donations via private arrangements, unlicensed donor recruitment companies or websites.
Since April 2008, the HFEA Act 2008’s parenthood provisions have been in force. If the couple is married or in a civil partnership and sperm insemination does not take place at a licensed clinic, fatherhood or parenthood will automatically be conferred on the partner, but could be contested. Where couples are not married or not in a civil partnership, the new law will only apply when treatment is carried out at a clinic licensed by the HFEA.
Attrition rates
The number of donors who actually become registered with the HFEA does not reflect the number of people who may be interested in donation.
A study in a report by the British Fertility Society’s working party on sperm donation services (Nov 2008) found that of 1,101 initial applicants at one clinic, only 40 became registered sperm donors.
The number of potential donors fell at various points during the recruitment process. For example, 87 potential donors were rejected during initial discussions around the process and their medical history. A further 595 were rejected at semen analysis stage.
Payments and expenses
Payment of donors is prohibited. Donors can however claim ‘reasonable expenses’ for travel.
Donors can also claim reimbursement for loss of earnings of up to £55.19 for each full day and up to a maximum of £250 per course of sperm donation or cycle of egg donation, in line with expenses for jury service.
This decision was a result of a consultation on sperm, eggs and embryo donation – the SEED review.
Some clinics offer egg sharing programmes. Egg sharing involves a woman undertaking fertility treatment donating some of her eggs to the clinic where she is receiving treatment. In return, the clinic can subsidise her treatment costs.
The ten family limit
Since it was established in 1991, the HFEA has set a limit on the number of families or children that can be created using sperm of eggs from each donor.
Each donor’s eggs or sperm can be used to create up to ten families, unless the donor specifies a lower limit.
Although the wording has changed, in effect there has always been a ten family limit, rather than a ten child limit.
The HFEA’s first Code of Practice (published in 1991) had a ten live birth limit, but allowed ‘exceptional cases’ such as a subsequent child for the same patient with the same donor.
Following the 2005 SEED review, the wording in the 7th Code of Practice was changed to make this clearer, stating that the number of families created using donor gametes should be no more than 10 for each donor.
What information does a donor provide to the HFEA?
Donor information is collected to establish their suitability as a donor and to provide information which can be passed onto any child born as a result of their donation.
This includes physical description, medical history and a goodwill message.
Donors must complete both a donor registration form and a consent form.
What information can someone involved in donation receive from the HFEA or the clinic?
The HFEA can only provide information about donation and treatment that has taken place since 1st August 1991.
The HFEA has a policy of providing as much information as it can to patients, donors and the donor conceived, so long as it is within the law and does not breach confidentiality.
Patients can see non-identifying information about the donor before they start treatment.
Donors can find out how many children were born as a result of their donation, the sex and year of birth.
Parents of donor conceived children can find out how many half siblings their child has, the sex and year of birth. Parents can also ask the clinic or the HFEA for non-identifying information about the donor.
For donor conceived people, the amount of information they can receive depends on when they were conceived, their age and if their donor has re-registered as identifiable.
Impact of ICSI
Intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) involves injecting a single sperm directly into an egg in order to fertilise it.
The major development of ICSI means that as long as some sperm can be obtained (even in very low numbers), fertilisation is possible.
As a result, many patients have been able to use their partner’s or husband’s sperm, where before they would have to use donor sperm.
Foreign donors
Country of residence was first recorded by the HFEA in June 2004, in advance of the changes to the law around donor anonymity.
All donors whose eggs, sperm or embryos are used in UK treatment must provide the same information to the HFEA and are subject to the same screening requirements.
Anonymity and re-registration
Those who donated sperm, eggs or embryos after 1 April 2005 are, by law, identifiable. Any person born as a result of donation after this time is entitled to request and receive their donor’s name and last known address, once they reach the age of 18.
Donors who donated before 1 April 2005 are automatically anonymous. This means that donor-conceived people can only access non-identifying information provided by the donor at the time of donation.
However, there are a number of donors who have re-registered in order to become identifiable, even though they donated before April 2005. The donor offspring of these donors will be entitled to receive full identifiable information should they ask for it. To date, just under 100 donors have re-registered.
Embryo donation and registration of donors
When embryos are donated for treatment, both the egg provider and the sperm provider must be registered as donors. This may take place some time after the embryos were initially placed in storage.
In this situation, donor screening must still take place, no matter how much time has passed since the embryos were created.
Before the HFEA
The HFEA only has information about treatments at licensed clinics since August 1991.
There are no official records of donor treatments carried out before then. However, there are some organisations that provide support and advice to those who were conceived before August 1991 (see below).
Donation support groups and charities
More information is available through the support groups and charities listed below.
Page last updated: 31 July 2009