News & Campaigns

All the latest from HER-itage and our affiliates

Research finds significant barriers to NHS-funded fertility treatment for female same-sex couples – BPAS

BPAS Fertility has released the results of an investigation into NHS-funded fertility care for female same-sex couples, highlighting the additional, hidden financial burdens they face.

Fertility services in the UK, including in vitro fertilisation (IVF), are provided by a mixture of NHS and private services. NHS fertility services are commissioned at national level in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In England, responsibility for commissioning is taken by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), which plan and commission services for their local area.

NHS-funded care is commonly given to heterosexual couples once they can demonstrate they have tried to conceive naturally for 2-3 years. However, female same-sex couples are required to establish their “fertility status” by self-funding several rounds of artificial insemination (AI) privately, at considerable cost.

BPAS Fertility’s new report turned up key data concluding:

  • Over a quarter of CCGs (29%) will not fund the cost of donor sperm to be used in IVF treatments.
  • The majority (76%) require a minimum of 3 self-funded AI cycles and frequently up to 12 cycles, which can cost as much as £1,600 per cycle, or almost £20,000 in total.
  • Over half (57%) will fund just one cycle of IVF, less than 20% will fund 3 rounds, and in some areas no care is provided at all.

Despite NICE guidance on best practice – released eight years ago – stating that intrauterine insemination (IUI) should be considered as a treatment option for people in same-sex relationships, there are still significant barriers to care, including:

Restrictions on the use of donated gametes

Three CCGs (NHS Brighton and Hove CCG, NHS East Sussex CCG and NHS West Sussex CCG) do not fund procedures involving donor genetic materials for any patient group. This is likely to have a disproportionate impact on female same-sex couples, since it effectively bans them from accessing NHS-funded care.

Criteria for establishing “subfertility”

Only 17 (of 106) CCGs adhere to NICE guidance by providing NHS-funded AI as an alternative to vaginal intercourse for female same-sex couples. Over three quarters (76%) of CCGs require a minimum of 3 cycles of AI to be self-funded before patients become eligible for NHS care, with 29 CCGs requiring between 10 and 12 cycles of self-funded AI. Cycles can cost up to £1,600, meaning the total could be around £20,000.

Restrictions on the funding of donor gametes

31 CCGs (29%) said they do not fund the cost of donor sperm to be used in IVF treatments for female same-sex couples, even if the couple has previously met the eligibility criteria by self-funding multiple rounds of AI. Again, this financial burden is likely to disproportionately impact same-sex couples.

Other postcode-dependent restrictions

Female same-sex couples are also subject to the same postcode lottery as all other fertility patients. Three CCGs do not fund any fertility treatments at all, for any patient group. The overwhelming majority of CCGs fund fewer cycles of IVF than recommended by NICE: our analysis found that only 21 CCGs fund up to three cycles, while 60 CCGs (57%) fund a maximum of one cycle.

Previous research by BPAS Fertility has highlighted other postcode-dependent criteria, including female age (with some CCGs restricting female patients over the age of 35), BMI, and the fact that a patient’s partner has a child from a previous relationship.

Part of a longer press release at https://www.bpas.org/about-our-charity/press-office/press-releases/research-finds-significant-barriers-to-nhs-funded-fertility-treatment-for-female-same-sex-couples/

 

June 21, 2021

Research finds significant barriers to NHS-funded fertility treatment for female same-sex couples – BPAS

BPAS Fertility has released the results of an investigation into NHS-funded fertility care for female same-sex couples, highlighting the additional, hidden financial burdens they face.

Fertility services in the UK, including in vitro fertilisation (IVF), are provided by a mixture of NHS and private services. NHS fertility services are commissioned at national level in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In England, responsibility for commissioning is taken by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), which plan and commission services for their local area.

NHS-funded care is commonly given to heterosexual couples once they can demonstrate they have tried to conceive naturally for 2-3 years. However, female same-sex couples are required to establish their “fertility status” by self-funding several rounds of artificial insemination (AI) privately, at considerable cost.

BPAS Fertility’s new report turned up key data concluding:

  • Over a quarter of CCGs (29%) will not fund the cost of donor sperm to be used in IVF treatments.
  • The majority (76%) require a minimum of 3 self-funded AI cycles and frequently up to 12 cycles, which can cost as much as £1,600 per cycle, or almost £20,000 in total.
  • Over half (57%) will fund just one cycle of IVF, less than 20% will fund 3 rounds, and in some areas no care is provided at all.

Despite NICE guidance on best practice – released eight years ago – stating that intrauterine insemination (IUI) should be considered as a treatment option for people in same-sex relationships, there are still significant barriers to care, including:

Restrictions on the use of donated gametes

Three CCGs (NHS Brighton and Hove CCG, NHS East Sussex CCG and NHS West Sussex CCG) do not fund procedures involving donor genetic materials for any patient group. This is likely to have a disproportionate impact on female same-sex couples, since it effectively bans them from accessing NHS-funded care.

Criteria for establishing “subfertility”

Only 17 (of 106) CCGs adhere to NICE guidance by providing NHS-funded AI as an alternative to vaginal intercourse for female same-sex couples. Over three quarters (76%) of CCGs require a minimum of 3 cycles of AI to be self-funded before patients become eligible for NHS care, with 29 CCGs requiring between 10 and 12 cycles of self-funded AI. Cycles can cost up to £1,600, meaning the total could be around £20,000.

Restrictions on the funding of donor gametes

31 CCGs (29%) said they do not fund the cost of donor sperm to be used in IVF treatments for female same-sex couples, even if the couple has previously met the eligibility criteria by self-funding multiple rounds of AI. Again, this financial burden is likely to disproportionately impact same-sex couples.

Other postcode-dependent restrictions

Female same-sex couples are also subject to the same postcode lottery as all other fertility patients. Three CCGs do not fund any fertility treatments at all, for any patient group. The overwhelming majority of CCGs fund fewer cycles of IVF than recommended by NICE: our analysis found that only 21 CCGs fund up to three cycles, while 60 CCGs (57%) fund a maximum of one cycle.

Previous research by BPAS Fertility has highlighted other postcode-dependent criteria, including female age (with some CCGs restricting female patients over the age of 35), BMI, and the fact that a patient’s partner has a child from a previous relationship.

Part of a longer press release at https://www.bpas.org/about-our-charity/press-office/press-releases/research-finds-significant-barriers-to-nhs-funded-fertility-treatment-for-female-same-sex-couples/

 

June 21, 2021

2021 Birthday Honours for Women Working for Women

CBE
Sandra Horley – Lately Chief Executive, Refuge. For services to the Prevention of Domestic Abuse and the Protection of Women and Children

OBE
Lisa King, Director of Communications and External Relations, Refuge. For services to Victims of Domestic Abuse

BEM
Saiqa Ali, Founder and Chair, Southern Women’s Aid Network (SWAN). For services to the community in South London particularly during Covid-19

For New Year and Birthday Honours previously awarded see http://www.womensgrid.org.uk/?s=Honours+for+Women+Working+for+Women

June 14, 2021

Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges – Ofsted

Executive summary and recommendations (Extracts)

On our visits, girls told us that sexual harassment and online sexual abuse, such as being sent unsolicited explicit sexual material and being pressured to send nude pictures (‘nudes’), are much more prevalent than adults realise. For example, nearly 90% of girls, and nearly 50% of boys, said being sent explicit pictures or videos of things they did not want to see happens a lot or sometimes to them or their peers. Children and young people told us that sexual harassment occurs so frequently that it has become ‘commonplace’. For example, 92% of girls, and 74% of boys, said sexist name-calling happens a lot or sometimes to them or their peers. The frequency of these harmful sexual behaviours means that some children and young people consider them normal.

When we asked children and young people where sexual violence occurred, they typically talked about unsupervised spaces outside of school, such as parties or parks without adults present, although some girls told us they also experienced unwanted touching in school corridors.

Children and young people, especially girls, told us that they do not want to talk about sexual abuse for several reasons, even where their school encourages them to. For example, the risk of being ostracised by peers or getting peers into trouble is not considered to be worth it for something perceived by children and young people to be commonplace. They worry about how adults will react, because they think they will not be believed, or that they will be blamed. They also think that once they talk to an adult, the process will be out of their control.

Children and young people were rarely positive about the RSHE they had received. They felt that it was too little, too late and that the curriculum was not equipping them with the information and advice they needed to navigate the reality of their lives. Because of these gaps, they told us they turned to social media or their peers to educate each other, which understandably made some feel resentful. As one girl put it, ‘It shouldn’t be our responsibility to educate boys’.

In the schools and colleges we visited, some teachers and leaders underestimated the scale of the problem. They either did not identify sexual harassment and sexualised language as problematic or they were unaware they were happening. They were dealing with incidents of sexual violence when they were made aware of them, and following statutory guidance. But professionals consistently underestimated the prevalence of online sexual abuse, even when there was a proactive whole-school approach to tackling sexual harassment and violence.

Schools and colleges cannot tackle sexual harassment and sexual violence, including online, on their own, and neither should they. For example, the prevalence of children and young people seeing explicit material they do not want to see and being pressured to send ‘nudes’ is a much wider problem than schools can address. While they can play their part, it is not only their responsibility to solve it. The government will need to tackle this issue through the Online Safety Bill, and other interventions.

As a result of the findings of this review, we recommend the following.

Recommendations for school and college leaders (Extracts)

School and college leaders should create a culture where sexual harassment and online sexual abuse are not tolerated, and where they identify issues and intervene early to better protect children and young people.

In order to do this, they should assume that sexual harassment and online sexual abuse are happening in their setting, even when there are no specific reports, and put in place a whole-school approach to address them.

Read the full report at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-sexual-abuse-in-schools-and-colleges/review-of-sexual-abuse-in-schools-and-colleges

 

June 10, 2021

Letter calling on the UK Government to #EndtheYoungParentPenalty

On 10 June 2021 a cross-party letter was sent to secretary of state for work and pensions Therese Coffey calling for the adult rate of benefits to be restored to single parents under 25 in Universal Credit, as part of One Parent Families Scotland’s campaign to #EndtheYoungParentPenalty.

There is no reason to treat single parent families differently based on age. Whether under or over 25, single parents have a high percentage of their household income taken up by caring for a child as they are both the sole breadwinner and carer for their family. The Government’s decision not to extend this support can only therefore be seen as a Young Parent Penalty.

Letter to Theresa Coffey, with over 100+ civil society signatories alongside 60 MPs from nine parties

Dear Secretary of State,

Re: End the Young Parent Penalty

There are 1.8 million single parents in the UK – around 90% of whom are women. Nearly half of all children in lone-parent families in the UK are living in poverty.

The last year of lockdown has been very difficult for many people across the country – and will have had a disproportionate impact on single parent families. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Poverty 2020/21 report finds that lone parents, “are more reliant on local jobs, and are more likely to have struggled with childcare during lockdown”.

It is therefore vital that necessary support is put in place for lone parent families.

However, the current welfare system makes it harder for younger single parents to access the appropriate level of support. There are almost 175,000 single parents under 25 across the UK.

Prior to the introduction of Universal Credit in 2013, single parents under 25 were able to claim social security benefits at the rate available for all people aged 25 and over. Under the ‘legacy system’ (Jobseekers’ Allowance, Income Support and Employment Support Allowance,) single parents under 25 are exempted from the lower rate of support in recognition of the cost of caring for a child alone.

However, under Universal Credit, this support was scrapped – and young single parent families are only able to claim the lower standard allowance available to single people under 25 without children. As Universal Credit is being phased in, many young single parents lose the higher rate of income when they have a change of circumstances and have to move to Universal Credit – most often because their youngest child reaches 5 years and they can no longer claim Income Support.

The result is that young single parent families are up to £66.13 worse off per month under Universal Credit than with the legacy system – a drop of 20%. There is no reason to treat single parent families differently based on age. Whether under or over 25, single parents have a high percentage of their household income taken up by caring for a child as they are both the sole breadwinner and carer for their family. The Government’s decision not to extend this support can only therefore be seen as a Young Parent Penalty.

We, the undersigned, urge you to End the Young Parent Penalty and extend the allowance to claimants of Universal Credit.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

For list of signatories go to https://opfs.org.uk/policy-and-campaigns/campaigns/end-the-young-parent-penalty/cross-party-letter/

Read more about the Campaign at: https://opfs.org.uk/policy-and-campaigns/campaigns/end-the-young-parent-penalty/

 

June 10, 2021