What are fertility benefits?
Fertility benefits are employer-provided support that helps employees plan a family or manage fertility challenges, including clinical guidance, diagnostic testing, assisted reproductive treatments, and emotional support.
Many are delivered via digital platforms that combine expert advice, care navigation, and clinical referrals to make fertility support more accessible and practical for employees. These benefits increasingly form part of wider wellbeing and family-support strategies, complementing maternity, menopause, and parental leave programmes.
Different providers structure fertility support in distinct ways, offering a mix of clinical care, financial assistance, and coaching. For example, Carrot Fertility offers a broad spectrum of support for family building, including IVF, fertility preservation (egg and sperm freezing), adoption, and surrogacy, while Maven Clinic’s digital, app-based platform offers 24/7 virtual care for fertility, family-building, and reproductive health. It connects users with specialists, including reproductive endocrinologists, coaches, and mental health support, and covers IVF, adoption, and surrogacy, primarily as an employer-funded benefit.
Hertility Health is a virtual clinic and diagnostic organisation that specialises in at-home hormone and fertility testing. Support includes expert-led workshops, telemedicine services and onward fertility support for employees. Meanwhile, fertility financial services firm Gaia Family uses an outcome-based model, sharing financial risk so that costs are reduced if treatment does not result in a successful pregnancy. Peppy focuses on guidance and coaching, offering clinical advice and emotional support without directly funding treatments.
For employers, fertility benefits are increasingly being positioned as part of a wider reproductive health strategy alongside maternity, menopause and family-forming support. These enable organisations to build a more inclusive benefits offering and demonstrate support for employees at different life stages.
What are the cost implications?
Pricing depends on the provider and the design of the benefits package. Subscription-based models, such as Maven Clinic and Peppy, charge a per-member or per-employee fee for access to guidance, education, and programme administration. Treatment reimbursement wallets, used by Carrot and Apryl, allow employers to allocate a set fund for eligible treatments, with limits determined by employer budgets or provider recommendations. Outcome-based financing, like Gaia Family’s all-inclusive plans, sets a fixed total cost upfront and may offer optional payment plans, reducing uncertainty for employees and employers.
These approaches allow organisations to manage budgets effectively while giving employees meaningful support throughout their fertility journeys and provide a predictable framework for planning HR and benefits budgets across the year.
Are there any tax or legal issues?
Employer-funded fertility benefits are generally treated as a benefit-in-kind. The value is reported on the employee’s P11D, employees may pay income tax on it, and employers may need to pay national insurance contributions. The cost of providing the benefit can usually be deducted as a business expense.
From a legal perspective, employers need to consider equality obligations, clear eligibility policies, and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance, ensuring fertility benefits remain fair, transparent, and legally robust for all employees. They should also seek professional advice on tax and legal implications before introducing a scheme.
What are the current market trends or developments?
NHS funding for fertility treatment is limited and varies by region, leaving many to pay privately. A single IVF cycle can cost £5,000 to £10,000 or more, making fertility benefits an increasingly important feature of progressive employee packages. However, take up in the UK remains limited, with fewer than one in five employers currently offering dedicated fertility benefits, according to research by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) published in January 2025.
A study by Fertifa and Fertility Network UK, published in November 2023, found that a growing proportion of employees value fertility support highly when choosing or staying in a job, and many employers see such benefits as a way to reduce turnover and hidden productivity costs associated with unsupported fertility journeys.
While early offerings focused narrowly on financial support for IVF, current trends show employers broadening support to include egg and sperm freezing, counselling and mental health resources, paid leave for treatment, and assistance with adoption or surrogacy.
In March 2026, Cigna Healthcare expanded its collaboration with Carrot Fertility, making its fertility benefits programme available to eligible global health benefits clients in Europe. The move reflects a broader trend: the need for globally consistent fertility support for multinational workforces.
Forward-thinking employers are also introducing dedicated paid leave for fertility treatment cycles and appointments, particularly in sectors such as finance, technology, and professional services. Increasingly, fertility benefits are being framed as part of holistic wellbeing and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategies, recognising the emotional, financial, and physical challenges of fertility treatment and the importance of inclusive support for all paths to parenthood.
Who are the main providers?
Leading providers include Apryl, Carrot Fertility, Fertifa, Gaia, Maven Clinic and Peppy, alongside reproductive health testing providers such as Hertility Health. Some fertility clinic groups, including Care Fertility, also partner directly with employers to provide clinical care and treatment access.
