Dame Caroline Dinenage, Member of Parliament for Gosport, has tabled an amendment to the Health Bill, to close the regulatory gap around online fertility services, ahead of Report Stage on 7 September.
The UK's fertility laws are struggling to keep pace with a market that has been transformed since they were written 35 years ago. The number of people accessing fertility treatment has grown from around 6,000 in 1991 to more than 52,000 in 2023, with an increasing share of that market moving online, into settings that fall outside the regulator's reach.
The risks of that gap were laid bare in December 2024, when the online fertility platform Apricity Fertility collapsed with almost no warning, leaving hundreds of patients across the country in limbo mid-treatment. Because Apricity operated as a digital concierge service, connecting patients to partner clinics rather than carrying out treatment itself, it fell entirely outside the licensing regime overseen by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which by law can only regulate UK premises where treatment physically takes place.
After the collapse of Apricity Dame Caroline Dinenage introduced a Private Member's Bill — the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Regulation) Bill — in July 2025, which would have implemented a recommendation from the HFEA's own 2023 “Modernising Fertility Law” report. Like most Private Members' Bills, it did not progress beyond First Reading.
Dame Caroline has now tabled the same reform as an amendment to the Government's Health Bill, to be debated at Report Stage on Monday 7 September.
With the vast majority of fertility treatments now funded privately, Dame Caroline has warned that Apricity is unlikely to be a one-off. A growing number of businesses now offer fertility-related services, from online consultations and matching services to prescribing and monitoring, without ever operating as a licensed clinic, meaning patients have no way of knowing whether the organisation they are trusting with their fertility journey is regulated at all. Without reform, campaigners warn it is only a matter of time before another provider fails in the same way, leaving more families stranded mid-treatment.
The pressure on families to look beyond NHS-funded treatment is also growing. Multiple Integrated Care Boards across England have reduced the number of funded IVF cycles or tightened eligibility over the past year. More people are looking online for cheap self-funding options. This includes from self-described “fertility coaches” whose services are not regulated by the HFEA.
Meanwhile a recent BBC investigation into fertility clinics in northern Cyprus, in which at least 30 British families are feared to have been given the wrong sperm or egg donor, has further underlined how families can be left exposed when treatment is arranged outside the UK's regulated system.
Caroline’s new clause would amend the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 to make the HFEA responsible for licensing organisations that provide online fertility services in England and Wales.
Dame Caroline Dinenage, Member of Parliament for Gosport, said:
“With the NHS pulling back fertility treatment funding, more people are going private and looking for the cheapest option. They may not be aware that plenty of UK based consultants and online clinics are not overseen by our regulator, the HFEA.
“I've tabled an amendment to the Health Bill to modernise regulation and haul it into the 21st century.”
NOTES:
- Apricity Fertility, a UK-based virtual fertility clinic, notified patients on 20 December 2024 that it would cease all operations from 1 January 2025 after a planned investment fell through. As a digital-only service, it was not licensed or regulated by the HFEA.
- The HFEA's November 2023 “Modernising Fertility Law” report recommended extending its remit to cover organisations offering fertility services online, in addition to its existing powers over licensed UK clinics.
- Dame Caroline's Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Regulation) Bill received its First Reading on 15 July 2025, co-sponsored by 11 MPs from across the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and DUP benches. It did not progress to a Second Reading.
- The Health Bill reaches Report Stage in the House of Commons on Monday 7 September 2026, when Dame Caroline's new clause on the regulation of online fertility services will be debated.
- The text of Dame Caroline's amendment is available on request.
