Nicole Collarbone never thought she would be a single mother, but as she neared her 40th birthday, she knew she no longer wanted to wait to meet a partner to have a baby.
She decided to have IVF with a sperm donor, but with the steep price of fertility treatment, and no one to share the costs with, Nicole hoped she could get at least part of it on the NHS.
But she was told that because she was single, she didn’t qualify for any fertility treatment on the health service.
“I was gutted,” she said. “It was just such a definitive no. And I had expected maybe something, you know, that we’d explore it a little bit more. There’d be more explanation around the funding, but it was just a no.”
Nicole borrowed money from her family and is now pregnant with her first child.
“I was so dependent on them being able to contribute that if they couldn’t, then I wouldn’t have been able to go down this route.”
Image: Nicole Collarbone
She is among a rising number of single women choosing solo motherhood, with a 44% increase in women with no partner doing IVF between 2019 and 2021 according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.
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But those who cannot afford private treatment have to tackle barriers in the health service which, according to one legal expert, discriminate against them.
Over half of NHS England integrated care boards, which decide on who can get fertility treatment locally, don’t include single women in IVF policies at all.
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The rest require them to spend thousands of pounds to prove infertility, by paying privately for between three and 12 cycles of artificial insemination.
It is a less invasive fertility treatment that is about a third as effective as IVF, where a cycle costs between £700 and £1,600.
If that fails, a single woman can be considered for IVF on the NHS.
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In comparison, heterosexual couples are asked if they have been trying to conceive for two years.
Female same sex couples also have to prove infertility, but the government has committed to fund artificial insemination for them as part of the Women’s Health Strategy, created in part to level up access to IVF.
There’s no such commitment for single women though, who will still have to pay, creating an unlevel playing field according Atina Krajewska, professor in human rights law at Birmingham University.
“In my view, single women should be treated similarly to same sex couples, because inevitably they are in a similar situation when it comes to their ability to conceive,” she said.
“I would see this as a discriminatory treatment based on international human rights provisions.
“Those who can afford private treatment will be affected, but not to the same extent, eventually they might just decide that they want to self-fund the treatment and then try to get access to IVF.
“For women who are from more economically disadvantaged backgrounds, this is impossible. It’s a question of equity.”
Image: Georgie
For Georgie, the issue wasn’t just the cost, but also the time it would take to do six rounds of artificial insemination in order to qualify for just one round of IVF on the NHS in her area.
She was 38 when she decided to try for a baby alone, so she spent much of her savings to go straight to the most effective treatment.
“It is quite daunting in many ways to find out how much I ended up spending but in total with six rounds of IVF I spent in the region of £40,000.
“If you’d told me that at the start, I mean who knows what I would have actually said, but I think there’s a big part of me that would have said that there’s no way I can find that sort of money. I don’t see how I can start this journey.”
Her treatment worked and she recently gave birth to a daughter, though the spiralling cost nearly made her give up.
She considered adoption but her desire to carry and give birth to a baby was overwhelming.
Campaigners acknowledge that NHS finances are under pressure, but say single women are a fraction of those doing IVF, totalling just over 2,800 in 2021 according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, so funding them wouldn’t break the bank.
“Single women who want to become parents and haven’t got any other options but to seek help from fertility services, are as deserving of help as anybody else,” said Dr Catherine Hill, CEO of Fertility Network UK.
“If you’re funding six or 12 cycles (of artificial insemination) you’re talking about thousands and thousands of pounds.
“And that’s just financially crippling, it’s a massive financial hurdle. That means it’s practically impossible for most single women to access NHS fertility treatment.”
In exceptional cases the NHS can refer single women to IVF without artificial insemination.
Image: Jennifer Lon-Ho-Kee
This is what happened to Jennifer Lon-Ho-Kee, after a long and confusing journey navigating the system.
“From the time when I went to my GP initially, just to get some exploratory tests, it’s actually been eight years to the point of getting IVF, which is a hell of a long time. And it was like pulling teeth at every stage,” she said.
She was initially told she could not get fertility treatment because she was single, but when she asked again a few years later she was put on the waiting list.
Because of delays to appointments, she was nearing the age cut-off for fertility treatment in her area and was given IVF just days before breaching it.
The round did not result in a pregnancy, and Jennifer is now spending thousands on fertility treatment abroad.
The financial strain for single women should not be harder than for couples, according to Mel Johnson, a solo motherhood coach.
“Some people spend all their savings, even go into debt to pay for the treatment, which makes the starting point of becoming a parent challenging from a financial point of view,” she said.
“For me the main thing is it will be equitable with everybody else.”
The government told Sky News that local health services in England follow guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), and a review of those guidelines is expected to be published in 2024.
Labour’s welfare reforms bill has passed, with 335 MPs voting in favour and 260 against.
It came after the government watered down the bill earlier this evening, making a dramatic last-minute concession to the demands of would-be rebel MPs who were concerned about the damage the policy would do to disabled people.
The government has a working majority of 166, so it would have taken 84 rebels to defeat the bill.
In total, 49 Labour MPs still voted against the bill despite the concessions. No MPs from other parties voted alongside the government, although three MPs elected for Labour who have since had the whip removed did so.
Which Labour MPs rebelled?
Last week, 127 Labour MPs signed what they called a “reasoned amendment”, a letter stating their objection to the bill as it was.
The government responded with some concessions to try and win back the rebels, which was enough to convince some of them. But they were still ultimately forced to make more changes today.
In total, 68 MPs who signed the initial “reasoned amendment” eventually voted in favour of the bill.
Nine in 10 MPs elected for the first time at the 2024 general election voted with the government.
That compares with fewer than three quarters of MPs who were voted in before that.
A total of 42 Labour MPs also voted in favour of an amendment that would have stopped the bill from even going to a vote at all. That was voted down by 328 votes to 149.
How does the rebellion compare historically?
If the wording of the bill had remained unchanged and 127 MPs or more had voted against it on Tuesday, it would have been up there as one of the biggest rebellions in British parliamentary history.
As it happened, it was still higher than the largest recorded during Tony Blair’s first year as PM, when 47 of his Labour colleagues (including Diane Abbott, John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn, who also voted against the bill on Tuesday) voted no to his plan to cut benefits for single-parent families.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
A 92-year-old man has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 20 years in prison for the rape and murder of an elderly widow nearly 60 years ago.
Ryland Headley was found guilty on Monday of killing 75-year-old Louisa Dunne at her Bristol home in June 1967, in what is thought to be the UK’s longest cold case to reach trial, and has been told by the judge he “will die in prison”.
The mother-of-two’s body was found by neighbours after Headley, then a 34-year-old railway worker, forced his way inside the terraced house in the Easton area before attacking her.
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The UK’s longest cold case to reach trial
Police found traces of semen and a palm print on one of the rear windows inside the house – but it was about 20 years before DNA testing.
The case remained unsolved for more than 50 years until Avon and Somerset detectives sent off items from the original investigation and found a DNA match to Headley.
He had moved to Suffolk after the murder and served a prison sentence for raping two elderly women in 1977.
Prosecutors said the convictions showed he had a “tendency” to break into people’s homes at night and, in some cases, “target an elderly woman living alone, to have sex with her despite her attempts to fend him off, and to threaten violence”.
Image: Louisa Dunne in 1933. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Image: Headley during his arrest. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Headley, from Ipswich, who did not give evidence, denied raping and murdering Ms Dunne, but was found guilty of both charges after a trial at Bristol Crown Court.
Detectives said forces across the country are investigating whether Headley could be linked to other unsolved crimes.
Mrs Dunne’s granddaughter, Mary Dainton, who was 20 when her relative was killed, told the court that her murder “had a big impact on my mother, my aunt and her family.
“I don’t think my mother ever recovered from it. The anxiety caused by her mother’s brutal rape and murder clouded the rest of her life.
“The fact the offender wasn’t caught caused my mother to become and remain very ill.
“When people found out about the murder, they withdrew from us. In my experience, there is a stigma attached to rape and murder.”
Image: The front of Louisa Dunne’s home. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Image: Louisa Dunne’s skirt. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Finding out her grandmother’s killer had been caught after almost six decades “turned my life upside down,” she said.
“I feel sad and very tired, which has affected the relationships I have with those close to me. I didn’t expect to deal with something of such emotional significance at this stage of my life.
“It saddens me deeply that all the people who knew and loved Louisa are not here to see that justice has been done.”
Image: Palmprint images. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
After her statement, Mr Justice Sweeting told Mrs Dainton: “It is not easy to talk about matters like this in public.
“Thank you very much for doing it in such a clear and dignified way.”
The judge told Headley his crimes showed “a complete disregard for human life and dignity.
“Mrs Dunne was vulnerable, she was a small elderly woman living alone. You treated her as a means to an end.
“The violation of her home, her body and ultimately her life was a pitiless and cruel act by a depraved man.
“She must have experienced considerable pain and fear before her death,” he said.
Sentencing Headley to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years, the judge told him: “You will never be released, you will die in prison.”
Detective Inspector Dave Marchant of Avon and Somerset Police said Headley was “finally facing justice for the horrific crimes he committed against Louisa in 1967.
“The impact of this crime has cast a long shadow over the city and in particular Louisa’s family, who have had to deal with the sadness and trauma ever since.”
The officer praised Ms Dainton’s “resilience and courage” during what he called a “unique” case and thanked investigators from his own force, as well as South West Forensics, detectives from Suffolk Constabulary, the National Crime Agency and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Three managers at the hospital where Lucy Letby worked have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.
They were in senior roles at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016 and have been bailed pending further enquiries, Cheshire Constabulary said. Their names have not been made public.
Letby, 35, was found guilty of murdering seven children and attempting to murder seven more between June 2015 and June 2016 while working in the hospital’s neonatal unit.
Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes explained that gross negligent manslaughter focuses on the “action or inaction of individuals”.
There is also an investigation into corporate manslaughter at the hospital, which began in October 2023.
That focuses on “senior leadership and their decision-making”, Mr Hughes said. The intention there is to determine whether any “criminality has taken place concerning the response to the increased levels of fatalities”.
The scope was widened to include gross negligence manslaughter in March of this year.
Image: Lucy Letby was found guilty of murdering seven children and attempting to murder seven more
Mr Hughes said it is “important to note” that this latest development “does not impact on the convictions of Lucy Letby for multiple offences of murder and attempted murder”.
He added: “Both the corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter elements of the investigation are continuing and there are no set timescales for these.
“Our investigation into the deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the neo-natal units of both the Countess of Chester Hospital and the Liverpool Women’s Hospital between the period of 2012 to 2016 is also ongoing.”
Earlier this year, lawyers for Lucy Letby called for the suspension of the inquiry, claiming there was “overwhelming and compelling evidence” that her convictions were unsafe.
Their evidence has been passed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, and Letby’s legal team hopes her case will be referred back to the Court of Appeal.