The government has been urged to reverse a decision that will see £280,000 of fertility treatment funding redirected to “offset wider pressures” in the Health Department.
Deputy Lucy Stephenson, who has been open about her own fertility struggle and lodged the original proposition to improve IVF funding in Jersey, said she was “really disappointed” and “annoyed” to learn that almost of last year’s £620,000 budget had been quietly reallocated.
“It simply isn’t fair,” she said, arguing that the underspend was not the result of a lack of demand, but instead a consequence of restrictive access criteria.
“Had this £280,000 underspend been due to low demand I’d have understood, but it isn’t – it is a direct consequence of the government rationing access to treatment,” she added.
Deputy Stephenson said she would now call on the minister to reverse the decision to reallocate the underspend and instead ring-fence it for IVF treatment this year.
The ministerial decision blamed the underspend on delays in contracting providers, which meant that only one organisation signed up instead of the planned two and delivered IVF services for just half of the year.
But Chloe Fosse, from fertility charity Tiny Seeds, said she was “concerned” by these claims.
“We do not believe this to be accurate or that this would have caused a significant impact to the number of IVF cycles undertaken,” she explained.
Almost half the budget set aside for IVF in 2025 went unspent because the government was needlessly rationing access to treatment with non-clinical criteria – now surprise surprise they’ve decided to ‘reallocate’ the money to be swallowed up by the wider health service 😡 pic.twitter.com/7gU23yCPAS
— Lucy Stephenson (@LucyStevoJSY) January 14, 2026
“Fertility treatment is healthcare. An underspend does not indicate a lack of need – it highlights the consequences of restrictive access and exclusionary criteria.”
She also pointed out that the changes to fertility funding also removed support that was previously available for IVF medication.
“As a result, many people have paid not only for treatment but also for medication – costs that would previously have been covered and which will likely already have returned to the wider health budget,” she added.
Tiny Seeds also backed Deputy Stephenson’s calls for the money to be ring-fenced for IVF treatment this year.
“We strongly urge the government to reconsider their decision,” said Ms Fosse.
“This funding should be ring-fenced and reinvested into fertility services to address unmet need, expand eligibility, and ensure a fairer and more inclusive system going forward.
“We are ready to work constructively with policymakers to achieve this – but we cannot support the reallocation of fertility funding away from those it was intended to help.”
Deputy Stephenson, who serves as a governor for Tiny Seeds, also renewed her call for immediate changes to IVF funding eligibility rules.
“The restrictive criteria which is needlessly rationing treatment should also be widened immediately, removing non-clinical criteria such as previous children,” she added.