Do I have any rights or responsibilities towards a child created from my donation?

Not if you donate through an HFEA-licensed clinic, which must conform to strict medical, legal and ethical standards. This ensures that everyone involved in the donation process is clear about their legal position and is protected by the law. 

You will have no legal obligation to any child created from your donation - you will not be their legal parent and you will not be named on the birth certificate. Neither do you have any rights over how the child will be brought up, and you will not be asked to support the child financially.  You will be asked to provide information about yourself which a child born from your donation can access when they are 18 years old (see The HFEA Register – for donors). 

If you plan to donate outside a licensed clinic, for example if you are considering donating fresh sperm, you may wish to consult a solicitor first.  Where fresh donated sperm is used outside an HFEA licensed clinic, the donor is considered by law to be the child’s legal father, with all the responsibilities and rights that involves. 

How much do I get paid for my donation?

There is no payment for donation, but from the 1st April 2006 donors may claim "reasonable expenses" incurred in connection with gamete donation, for example the cost of travel to the clinic or the cost of child care where the donor would have normally been caring for the child.  Donors may also claim compensation for earnings lost during gamete donation, up to a daily maximum of £55.19, with an overall maximum of £250 per cycle of egg donation or course of sperm donation.

If you are donating eggs to others for treatment and also having treatment yourself (egg sharing), you may receive a discount in the cost of your own treatment.  However, you can no longer be offered sterilisation as a benefit in kind.

I am considering egg sharing.  Does that mean that I’m a ‘donor’?

Yes.  Egg sharing involves donating some of your eggs to someone else for treatment.  This means that the rules regarding donation apply to you. For more information see Egg Sharing and The HFEA Guide to Infertility.