From April 1st 2012 all egg donors will be entitled to the maximum rate of compensation of £750 for their donation. This is in recognition of the inconvenience, commitment and disruption that going through egg donation treatment involves. In most ‘normal’ situations this is intended to cover child care, travel and other out of pocket expenses. However, the HFEA have said that egg donors should not be out of pocket and that if childcare and/or travel were higher than expected, this should be reimbursed over and above the £750.
The fantastic aspect of this for our altruistic egg donors is that mums, students, and people not in work will be allowed this compensation, which was not the case before. It really recognises that all egg donors have to go through the same rigorous screening and treatment procedures and although this in no way reflects the enormity of the donation itself, it might help make up for some of the inconvenience.
If you are thinking about becoming an egg donor and are reading this, find out how these changes will affect you and you will be starting under this new scheme now.