In 2014 and 2015, all centres were asked to complete an audit of consent to legal parenthood as we had concerns that there may be errors or anomalies in some of these documents. Unfortunately, these concerns were well founded and several cases had to be resolved in the family court in order for couples to obtain a declaration of legal parenthood. Further guidance was given to all centres in February 2017 to clarify the requirements for taking consent to legal parenthood.
However, we continue to identify errors and anomalies in consent to legal parenthood across the sector. The sorts of issues we find include lack of or missing legal parenthood consent forms, using incorrect forms, and not identifying errors that could raise doubt over the validity of the consent. As a result, a few new cases have been referred to the family court. Where we continue to identify errors or anomalies in consent to legal parenthood, we are treating these very seriously and implementing proportionate regulatory action.
One of the underlying reasons for this is inadequate awareness or training of staff in this area of practice, either because they are new to the sector or have not kept up to date with recent changes, The HFEA’s Person Responsible Entry Programme (PREP) has a section on consent to legal parenthood that centres may find useful as a staff training tool or refresher.
It is also apparent that some centres have not continued to audit this area of practice, or audits that are undertaken are not robust, as sometimes errors or anomalies noted by inspectors have been in records previously audited by the centre. It is imperative that audits of this area of practice are robust and we have the following guidance on the minimum scope and methodology we expect to see in such audits.
Auditors
Staff undertaking the audit should be properly trained, competent, and fully understand the requirements of this area of practice.
Audit Scope
The audit should include all patients who have received treatment using donor sperm, embryos created with donor sperm, or surrogacy. If all records are not included in your audit you should have a robust rationale as to why you have only audited a sample of them.
Ensure that your data extract is complete and includes frozen embryo transfers, cases where ‘donor back-up’ was planned or carried out, or where ‘split insemination’ (i.e., using partner sperm and donor sperm in the same cycle) was carried out. Using different methods to extract data can help in cross checking that the data set is complete for example, laboratory spreadsheet, clinic diary, EDI data submission.
You should audit all relevant treatments carried out since the last complete audit of records. If errors are identified in records that are audited, then a further audit should be carried out to review all records as far back as is necessary to provide assurance that no further errors or anomalies remain.
Audits should also include consent to legal parenthood obtained using electronic consenting platforms. It is expected that these platforms have been robustly validated before use.
Audit methodology
Marital status
Document what evidence has been used to establish the marital/relationship status of patients that are being treated together, or that has been used to confirm that a patient is single.
Terms such as wife/husband/partner used by patients should not be the only basis on which marriage or civil partnership status is determined. Furthermore, centres should have evidence to confirm that they have checked that patients are legally single (i.e., they are not still married to, or in a civil partnership, with another person), or that they are not married or in a civil partnership with a person other than the person they are being treated with.
Audit requirements
If the couple are not married or not in a civil partnership record the following.
- The date on which the couple have been provided with such relevant information about their treatment and legal parenthood as is proper.
- The date on which the couple have been offered and given a suitable opportunity to receive proper counselling about the implications of being provided with relevant treatment services and consent to legal parenthood.
- The date on which the couple attended counselling.
- If the couple have not attended counselling, whether there is evidence that counselling was offered prior to treatment and obtaining consent to legal parenthood (record the date of that offer), and whether the offer was made to all relevant parties and has been declined.
- Whether the WP form (‘Your consent to your partner being the legal parent’) is present and has been completed accurately by the birth mother (i.e., the woman undergoing the embryo transfer or insemination). If there are any amendments on the form have these been signed and dated by the person completing the form and that all entries are clearly legible.
- The date that the WP form was signed.
- Whether the PP form (‘Your consent to being the legal parent’) is present and has been completed accurately by the partner of the woman undergoing the embryo transfer or insemination. If there are any amendments on the form have these been signed and dated by the person completing the form and that all entries are clearly legible.
- The date that the PP form was signed.
- The date that the donor insemination/embryo transfer took place. Where a series of inseminations have taken place, this date should be that of the first insemination as it may not be known which insemination resulted in the pregnancy.
- Whether the couple had been offered counselling and have been provided with proper information prior to providing their consent to legal parenthood.
- Whether the consent forms were signed before the treatment date.
- Whether the consent was withdrawn or varied using a WC form (‘Withdrawing your consent’) since the WP/PP forms were completed. Document the date of withdrawal / variation of consent, the date that this was communicated to the relevant parties, and whether this was done in writing.
- If there is no consent to parenthood, you should record whether there is evidence that the patients were provided with information about this option but declined to complete the consents.
If the couple are married or in a civil partnership (and are creating embryos) record the following:
- The date on which the couple have been provided with such relevant information about their treatment and legal parenthood as is proper.
- The date on which the couple have been offered and given a suitable opportunity to receive proper counselling about the implications of being provided with relevant treatment services and consent to legal parenthood.
- If the couple have not attended counselling, whether there is evidence that counselling was offered (the date of that offer) prior to obtaining the consent of the husband/wife/civil partner to being registered as the legal parent in the event of their death, and the date that the offer has been declined.
- Whether a PBR form (‘Your consent to being registered as the legal parent in the event of your death’) is present and has been completed accurately by the husband/wife/civil partner of the woman undergoing the embryo transfer. If there are any amendments on the form have these been signed and dated by the person completing the form and that all entries are clearly legible.
- The date that the PBR form was signed.
- Whether the husband/wife/civil partner of the woman undergoing the embryo transfer had been offered counselling and have been provided with proper information prior to providing their consent on the PBR form.
- The date on which the embryos were created.
- Whether embryos were created before the death of the spouse/civil partner, if applicable.
- The date that the embryo transfer took place.
- Whether the PBR consent form was completed before the embryo transfer date.
- Whether the consent was withdrawn or varied since the time the PBR form was completed. Document the date of withdrawal / variation of consent and the date that this was communicated to the relevant parties.
- If the husband/wife/civil partner has not completed a consent to being registered as a legal parent in the event of their death, you should record whether there is evidence that the patients were provided with information about this option but declined to complete the consents.
For surrogacy cases record the following:
- The marital status of the surrogate and the evidence used to confirm this.
- The date on which the surrogate and commissioning couple were provided with such relevant information about their treatment and legal parenthood as is proper.
- The date on which the surrogate and commissioning couple were offered and given a suitable opportunity to receive proper counselling about the implications of being provided with relevant treatment services and consent to legal parenthood.
- The date on which the surrogate and commissioning couple attended counselling.
- If the surrogate and/or commissioning couple have not attended counselling, whether there is evidence that counselling was offered prior to treatment and obtaining consent to legal parenthood (record the date of that offer), and whether the offer was made to all relevant parties and has been declined.
- Whether the SWP form (‘Your consent (as a surrogate) nominating an intended parent to be the legal parent’) is present and has been completed accurately by the surrogate. If there are any amendments on the form have these been signed and dated by the person completing the form and that all entries are clearly legible.
- The date that the SWP form was signed.
- Whether the SPP form (‘Your consent to being the legal parent in surrogacy’) is present and has been completed accurately by the man or woman commissioning the surrogacy arrangement. If there are any amendments on the form have these been signed and dated by the person completing the form and that all entries are clearly legible.
- The date that the SPP form was signed.
- The date that the donor insemination/embryo transfer took place. Where a series of inseminations have taken place, this date should be that of the first insemination as it may not be known which insemination resulted in the pregnancy.
- Whether the surrogate and commissioning couple had been offered counselling and have been provided with proper information prior to providing their consent to legal parenthood.
- Whether the consent forms were signed before the treatment date.
- Whether the consent was withdrawn or varied using a SWC form (‘Surrogacy - withdrawing your consent’) since the SWP/SPP forms were completed. Document the date of withdrawal / variation of consent, the date that this was communicated to the relevant parties, and whether this was done in writing.
- If there is no consent to parenthood, you should record whether there is evidence that the patients were provided with information about this option but declined to complete the consents.
Audit findings
Where there are any omissions, errors, or anomalies in the consent to legal parenthood forms you should ensure that this is raised immediately with the Person Responsible, that appropriate legal advice is sought, and that actions are taken to support the couples in accordance with HFEA guidance. Any anomalies should be reported to the HFEA through the incident reporting system.
Publication date: 9 April 2026