Guides · UK law

Known sperm donors and UK law: what you need to know

The short version

• Using a known donor outside a clinic is not a crime for the person receiving the donation. But storing, freezing, posting or arranging delivery of sperm without an HFEA licence is.
• At home, if you're single, or in a couple that isn't married or in a civil partnership, the donor is usually the child's legal father, with the rights and responsibilities that come with that.
• If you're married to or in a civil partnership with a woman, your wife or civil partner is normally the second legal parent, even after home insemination, unless it's shown she didn't consent. The donor is then not the legal father.
• A donor agreement is not legally binding on parenthood or child maintenance. It records intentions; it can't change the law.
• A licensed clinic (you can bring your own known donor) gives the clearest legal position, plus screening, quarantine and counselling.

What the law forbids (and what it doesn't)

Section 4 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 says that storing sperm, and procuring, testing, processing or distributing sperm intended for human use, may only be done under a licence from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) or a third-party agreement. The HFEA explains in its FAQs on unregulated sperm donation that using an unregulated donor is not a criminal offence for you, but that a donor who freezes or stores sperm, or anyone who arranges for sperm to be delivered, may be committing a serious crime.

In practice that means: no frozen sperm, no sperm by post or courier, no ‘delivery services’, and no paying for sperm. If anyone offers you that, don't accept, report the profile, and consider telling the police, as the HFEA advises.

What we do:we only introduce people. We never collect, store, test, transport or deliver sperm, and we don't arrange for anyone else to. We are not licensed by the HFEA and we are not a clinic.

Who is the legal parent after home insemination?

Legal parenthood decides things like financial responsibility, inheritance and nationality. It is set by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, and the answer depends on your relationship status and on whether treatment happened at a licensed clinic.

• Married or civil-partnered female couples. Under section 42, the birth mother's wife or civil partner is treated as a parent of the child unless it is shown that she did not consent to the insemination. This applies to artificial insemination at home too, and wherever it took place. Where she is a parent under section 42, no man is treated as the father (section 45).
• Unmarried female couples. The second mother can only become a legal parent at birth through treatment at a UK licensed clinic, with the ‘agreed female parenthood conditions’ met (section 43 and section 44). After home insemination, she isn't automatically a parent and the donor usually is. A family solicitor can explain routes such as adoption.
• Single women. After home insemination, the known donor is usually the legal father. The HFEA says this plainly on its home insemination page. At a licensed clinic, a donor who gives the clinic's donor consent is not the legal father (section 41).
• A woman married to a manwho uses a donor: her husband is treated as the father unless it's shown he didn't consent (section 35).

These rules apply to artificial insemination. Conception through sex is treated like any other conception: the man is the father. That is one reason we ban ‘natural insemination’.

Who is named on the birth certificate does not on its own decide who is a legal parent. If anything is unclear, get advice before you start, not after the baby arrives.

Child maintenance: the donor's risk

If a known donor is the child's legal father, he is a parent for child maintenance purposes. The Child Maintenance Service can be asked to work out and collect maintenance from him, for example if the mother later claims, or if she receives certain benefits. A private agreement can't prevent that: under section 9(4) of the Child Support Act 1991, any clause that tries to stop someone applying for maintenance is void. See also GOV.UK: Child Maintenance Service.

For donors, this is the most important reason to prefer a licensed clinic, or to donate only to a married or civil-partnered couple, and to take independent legal advice either way.

What a donor agreement can and can't do

• It can help you talk through and write down what you each expect: contact, what the child is told, tests, costs, privacy and what happens if things change.
• It can'tdecide who is a legal parent, stop a child maintenance claim, or take away the child's rights. A court looking at a dispute will put the child's welfare first; the HFEA notes there is no guarantee what a court will decide.

Health screening

Clinic donors are screened for infections and certain genetic conditions, and clinic sperm is quarantined and the donor re-tested before use. That isn't possible at home (storing sperm needs a licence). If you go ahead at home anyway, ask for recent results from an NHS sexual health clinic or another accredited service, ideally including HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhoea, and talk about genetic carrier tests (the HFEA mentions cystic fibrosis, sickle cell and thalassaemia). Tests only cover the time before they were taken. Your GP or a fertility clinic can advise you.

Family limits and your child's right to know

In UK clinics a donor can be used for up to ten families. Outside clinics there is no limit and no official record, and the HFEA has warned about serial donors with very many children. Ask a donor directly how many children and families he has already helped, and keep your own records. Children conceived at a clinic can later get information from the HFEA register; after a private donation there is no register, so being open with your child is down to you.

The clinic route with a known donor

You don't have to choose between a known donor and a clinic. The HFEA says patients can bring a known donor to a licensed clinic, which then handles screening, consent, counselling and legal parenthood. It costs money, and NHS funding depends on where you live and your situation, but it gives everyone the clearest legal position. Find an HFEA-licensed clinic.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

The HFE Acts apply across the UK, but courts, family law and procedures differ, especially in Scotland and Northern Ireland. We're starting in England and will add nation-specific guides before we open elsewhere.

Where to get help

• HFEA: free, impartial information on donation and clinics.
• A family law solicitor who knows fertility law (look for specialists via the Law Society's Find a Solicitor).
• British Infertility Counselling Association (BICA) and the Donor Conception Network.

Next: Finding a known sperm donor in the UK.

General information about the law in England, November 2026. Not legal, medical or financial advice. KnownDonor is an introduction platform: we never collect, store, test, transport or deliver sperm, and we are not licensed by the HFEA. Sources are linked in the text; where they and this page differ, the source is right.