Cost of assisted dying ‘could be tens of thousands of pounds’ per person
The cost of assisted dying in the UK could mean it ends up being only be for the wealthy, a specialist lawyer has told Sky News.
MPs voted the assisted dying bill through its second stage last month, meaning the UK is closer to allowing people to end their own lives legally.
The bill stipulates people will have to have been given six months or less to live, must have two doctors saying they are eligible and a High Court judge would have to make a final decision.
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Lawyer Alexa Payet, who has represented the families of British people who have chosen assisted dying overseas, told Sky News the costs could run into “tens of thousands of pounds”.
She also said because the scope of the bill is so narrow, people who are terminally ill but have longer to live will still choose to go overseas to die.
“Nothing about legal procedure has been set out in the bill yet but I can imagine the process could be tens of thousands of pounds,” she said.
“That begs the question as to whether any funding will be made available.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeve this week refused to say if assisted dying would be made free under the NHS, ahead of a committee of MPs being formed on Wednesday to scrutinise the bill and propose amendments.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater introduced the assisted dying bill to parliament, which passed its second stage last month
Ms Payet, partner in the disputed wills and estates team at Michaelmores LLP, has successfully fought for the families of British people who have gone to places like Dignitas in Switzerland.
As assisted dying is currently a criminal offence, British people who help someone to die at an overseas clinic are can commit a crime which means they are not allowed to benefit from the proceeds from wills or shared assets.
Helping could entail filling out the Dignitas form or organising transport.
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Ms Payet has worked on, among many others, two cases that have become case law, which has allowed judges to dismiss other cases – but people still have to go through a criminal investigation before.
She said the cost of lawyers to get a High Court judge to approve the application would be considerable.
Then there would be the legal costs family members might need for helping the person to die, because the Suicide Act may still apply so anybody encouraging or assisting suicide would be criminally liable.
They would then need to pay for lawyers to fight for their right to claim inheritance.
Lawyer Alexa Payet, who specialises in relief against forfeiture, warned the cost of assisted dying could be very high. Pic: Michaelmores LLP
Ms Payet said: “Any family members who provide any form of assistance getting them to that stage of assisted death, they don’t seem to be covered by this bill as drafted.
“I think there’s a question mark over what would happen with those individuals, both from the criminal aspect, but also from the forfeiture.
“It seems to me that the law, as it stands, may apply to those people, and that’s something else that should be given some consideration.”
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Opinions remain divided after assisted dying vote
She added there has been no mention of whether legal aid would be available, but said many people would not be eligible yet still could not afford the legal fees.
“This bill is incredibly narrow,” she said.
“Anecdotally, most of the people that go off to Dignitas are not people that fit this category of the terminally ill with six months or less to die.
“So, even if that bill was passed, it’s not going to affect the large majority of people who are currently taking steps to obtain an assisted death.
“Those people are presumably still going to go off to these overseas clinics which cost around £10,000 to £15,000 but then there’s also the associated costs like travel, with some people needing an air ambulance.”
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There is “no doubt” the UK “will spend 3% of our GDP on defence” in the next parliament, the defence secretary has said.
John Healey’s comments come ahead of the publication of the government’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) on Monday.
This is an assessment of the state of the armed forces, the threats facing the UK, and the military transformation required to meet them.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously set out a “clear ambition” to raise defence spending to 3% in the next parliament “subject to economic and fiscal conditions”.
Mr Healey has now told The Times newspaper there is a “certain decade of rising defence spending” to come, adding that this commitment “allows us to plan for the long term. It allows us to deal with the pressures.”
A government source insisted the defence secretary was “expressing an opinion, which is that he has full confidence that the government will be able to deliver on its ambition”, rather than making a new commitment.
The UK currently spends 2.3% of GDP on defence, with Sir Keir announcing plans to increase that to 2.5% by 2027 in February.
This followed mounting pressure from the White House for European nations to do more to take on responsibility for their own security and the defence of Ukraine.
The 2.3% to 2.5% increase is being paid for by controversial cuts to the international aid budget, but there are big questions over where the funding for a 3% rise would be found, given the tight state of government finances.
While a commitment will help underpin the planning assumptions made in the SDR, there is of course no guarantee a Labour government would still be in power during the next parliament to have to fulfil that pledge.
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From March: How will the UK scale up defence?
A statement from the Ministry of Defence makes it clear that the official government position has not changed in line with the defence secretary’s comments.
The statement reads: “This government has announced the largest sustained increase to defence spending since the end of the Cold War – 2.5% by 2027 and 3% in the next parliament when fiscal and economic conditions allow, including an extra £5bn this financial year.
“The SDR will rightly set the vision for how that uplift will be spent, including new capabilities to put us at the leading edge of innovation in NATO, investment in our people and making defence an engine for growth across the UK – making Britain more secure at home and strong abroad.”
Sir Keir commissioned the review shortly after taking office in July 2024. It is being led by Lord Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary and NATO secretary general.
The Ministry of Defence has already trailed a number of announcements as part of the review, including plans for a new Cyber and Electromagnetic Command and a £1bn battlefield system known as the Digital Targeting Web, which we’re told will “better connect armed forces weapons systems and allow battlefield decisions for targeting enemy threats to be made and executed faster”.
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PM Sir Keir Starmer and Defence Secretary John Healey on a nuclear submarine earlier this year. Pic: Crown Copyright 2025
On Saturday, the defence secretary announced a £1.5bn investment to tackle damp, mould and make other improvements to poor quality military housing in a bid to improve recruitment and retention.
Mr Healey pledged to “turn round what has been a national scandal for decades”, with 8,000 military family homes currently unfit for habitation.
He said: “The Strategic Defence Review, in the broad, will recognise that the fact that the world is changing, threats are increasing.
“In this new era of threat, we need a new era for defence and so the Strategic Defence Review will be the vision and direction for the way that we’ve got to strengthen our armed forces to make us more secure at home, stronger abroad, but also learn the lessons from Ukraine as well.
“So an armed forces that can be more capable of innovation more quickly, stronger to deter the threats that we face and always with people at the heart of our forces… which is why the housing commitments that we make through this strategic defence review are so important for the future.”
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