IVF and surrogacy costs in the UK

Every IVF and surrogacy journey is unique which means it is difficult to say how much the IVF or fertility treatment part of your UK surrogacy journey will cost. 

It is also only one of the costs you need to budget for in a UK surrogacy journey.  Find out more about the overall cost of surrogacy (in the UK or overseas).

However, we can do our best to break down the costs of IVF for gestational surrogacy in the UK as follows.

How much does it cost to create embryos for surrogacy in the UK?

If you are planning gestational surrogacy in the UK, you will need to create embryos to transfer to your surrogate.  You might be starting out with the IVF process from step one, or you might be coming to surrogacy having already been through fertility treatment before (and might even have embryos in storage left over from previous fertility treatment). If you don’t have embryos in storage, creating them will be your first step.

What do fertility clinics charge for creating embryos in the UK?

Many UK fertility clinics offer fixed-cost packages for creating embryos, with or without the help of an egg donor. These range from £10,000 upwards (if using your own eggs and sperm) to around £20,000 (in a London clinic with the help of an egg donor).

Fertility clinic packages will usually include everything to get you to the point of having embryos stored and usually include the surrogate’s medical screening and one embryo transfer. Other clinics will have more bespoke pay schedules depending on your exact needs, but the range in costs is probably not dissimilar.

The cost of additional testing, such as PGT, varies. To test around 8 embryos you can expect the cost to start at around an additional £3,000.

Should you need to create more embryos or find another surrogate then many costs will be repeated.

What if we already have embryos created and stored?

Many intended parents already have embryos stored from previous IVF attempts. These should be suitable to be used for surrogacy, but it is worth checking this with the clinic they are stored at, at an early stage, to be sure. Frozen embryos have good success rates, but the clinic will be able to give you advice on embryo quality.

Additionally, it is worth considering how many embryos you have stored. It may take 2-3 embryo transfers to achieve a pregnancy, meaning you will want enough viable embryos to be able for at least this many attempts.

If you would like the option of a sibling journey then you will need to double this number of embryos with 4-6. It is sensible to create enough embryos to take this into account; though you can make embryos at a later date, it is advisable to have enough embryos at the start of your journey so the process isn’t extended by having to go back into embryo creation.

How much does it cost to transfer an embryo to a surrogate?

It is sensible to budget around £5,000 for each transfer of existing embryos. The cost of a transfer may be included in any initial package you have paid for with the clinic, but more commonly (particularly after the first transfer) they will be paid for at the time of each transfer.

For many intended parents, multiple attempts are needed to achieve a pregnancy and baby. You will have to pay for each embryo transfer, and it is sensible to budget for at least, 2-3 transfers (the number we advise is needed to achieve a pregnancy).

The cost of transferring embryos you have stored will include:

• the clinic fees for thawing,
• monitoring and
• transferring the embryo to the surrogate.

For surrogacy journeys, you should also bear in mind that the surrogate will need to take medication and also travel to and from the clinic.

How do we choose a fertility clinic for surrogacy in the UK?

Where you create your embryos is an important question and the factors which feed into your choice will to some extent be personal to you. For example, does the clinic need to be local so attending appointments for a cycle of egg collection is as straightforward as possible? Do you already have a surrogate and want to make it easy for her by finding a clinic that is local to her? If you are having the help of an egg donor, what is the donor program at the clinic? What are the wait times for a donor and what information will you get about them to help you decide?

Each clinic will have slightly different operating procedures and options for you to investigate once you’ve answered those key questions and where your clinic needs to be. Many clinics offer additional testing on embryos, including PGT (PGS) which checks for chromosomal normality in embryos. This will come with additional costs.

It is always important to find a clinic that has experience of surrogacy, and a clear pathway for surrogacy. This will ensure there is a process to follow and it isn’t unduly stressful down the line.

You can get help finding a clinic by searching a region using The HFEA clinic search.

What if I want to move fertility clinics?

For surrogacy, it is worth bearing in mind that you may need to move your embryos to be closer to the surrogate, so the clinic that helps you create embryos may be different to the one that transfers them to a surrogate.

There will be costs to transport the embryos between clinics starting at around £1,000.