Nearly 70 percent of ICBs in England offer only one NHS-funded IVF cycle

Twenty-nine of the 42 integrated care boards (ICBs) in England offer only one cycle of NHS-funded IVF for eligible women under 40, the PET (Progress Educational Trust) Fertility Policy Tracker shows.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended since 2004 that eligible women under 40 should be offered three full cycles of NHS-funded IVF (see BioNews 1306). However, PET's free-to-use Fertility Policy Tracker – a regularly updated guide to IVF funding and fertility policies across England – shows that only two ICBs in England have policies consistent with this guidance, and nearly 70 percent offer only one funded cycle.

'For more than 20 years, NICE has recommended that the NHS should provide three full cycles of IVF to any woman under 40 years of age, who needs them. Disgracefully, this recommendation has never been implemented across England,' Sarah Norcross, director of PET, told the Financial Times.

Nineteen of the 29 ICBs which offer a single NHS-funded cycle provide not a full cycle as recommended by NICS, but rather a partial cycle, meaning that not all of the viable embryos created during treatment are transferred.

Last year, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside announced its plans to cut NHS-funded IVF cycles to one, and this new policy came into effect on 1 February 2026. Previously, coverage varied across ten Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in the region, nine of which offered two or three cycles for eligible women under 40 (see BioNews 1294).

'A new, single policy covering the whole of Cheshire and Merseyside aims to remove local variation and make access to NHS-funded fertility treatment more equitable. However, some changes are also being made for financial reasons,' said NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB.

The ICB noted that the new policy would save an estimated £1.3 million per year, and would bring Cheshire and Merseyside in line with most other regions in England. The new policy also introduced some changes to standardise eligibility criteria between local areas. Eligible women aged 40-42 will continue to be offered one NHS-funded cycle, as was already the case across the region.

NHS Greater Manchester also recently announced plans to offer only one NHS-funded cycle, a policy that will come into effect in April (see BioNews 1325).

'It's a postcode lottery, and we're seeing a race to the bottom,' Sarah Norcross told the Guardian, reflecting on the number of regions in England now offering only one NHS-funded cycle. 'Infertility is already incredibly stressful for people, and it puts them under even more pressure, because there is so much riding on whether that one NHS-funded cycle is going to work. And for some people, that will be their only chance, because private fertility treatment is so expensive.'

NICE is expected to update its Fertility Guideline in 2026, following a consultation on draft proposals in 2025. The draft proposals included recommendations that three NHS-funded cycles should be offered for eligible women under 40, with up to three more if unsuccessful (see BioNews 1306).

NHS Cheshire and Merseyside said that its new policy is being introduced on an 'interim basis' and will be reviewed against the updated NICE guideline.