Fertility Treatment Is Healthcare. So Why Is the UK Still Expecting People To Use Holiday and Sick Days for IVF?

Written by Sophie Sulehria

Every year, thousands of people in the UK begin fertility treatment. For many, this isn’t simply a medical pathway, but a deeply emotional, physically demanding and time-sensitive journey that often follows heartbreak, uncertainty and years of trying.

Yet despite this reality, the UK still offers no legal right to paid leave for IVF or fertility-related medical appointments.

In a country where maternity rights are protected and recognised, fertility treatment remains a policy grey zone, leaving people quietly taking sick days, booking annual leave, rearranging workloads, or inventing excuses to attend appointments that may shape their chance of becoming a parent.

We protect pregnancy, but we still don’t protect the path so many need to take to get there.

The Human Reality Behind the Policy Gap

This week, BBC News highlighted the story of Natalie, 38, who has already attended seven IVF appointments in eight weeks following two miscarriages - scans, bloods, procedures. One left her in pain for days. Like many, she used sick days and holiday to hide treatment from her employer.

I recognise her story, because I lived it.

I spent seven years in fertility treatment while working full-time. My life ran between my desk, the clinic, and the bathroom at work where I’d inject hormones. Scan at 7am, commute, strategy meeting, blood draw at lunchtime, injections in the loo, emails, hope, fear, hormones, repeat.

My employer was supportive, and I am grateful for that, but support should not depend on goodwill, luck, or workplace culture. No one should have to “hope” their manager will be kind enough to let them access medical care.

I quietly took sick days when I couldn’t face the emotional strain of treatment plus work, or physically couldn’t sit through a meeting after a procedure. That shouldn’t be discretionary. That shouldn’t be hidden. And no one should have to use holiday days or lie to attend medical treatment.

Yet every single day, across the UK, people are doing exactly that.

IVF Isn’t One Appointment - It’s a Medical Marathon

There is still a misconception that IVF is a single procedure. In reality, a cycle typically includes:

• Frequent blood tests

• Multiple vaginal scans

• Daily hormone injections

• Egg collection under sedation

• Recovery

• Embryo transfer

• Post-treatment monitoring

• Often - another cycle

And crucially, appointments are not optional or moveable with this stuff. Medical timing dictates everything. You can’t move a scan because you have a client meeting. You can’t pause a hormone cycle because your team is short-staffed.

Imagine injecting yourself at work, then joining a performance review smiling like nothing is happening. Imagine sitting in an open-plan office wondering whether this cycle will end differently to the last. Imagine carrying grief, hope, pain and hormones through a normal working day.

This is not elective. This is not “extra.” This is healthcare.

And yet UK employment law still doesn’t recognise it as such.

The Emotional Weight No One Sees

IVF doesn’t just take a physical toll, it takes a psychological one.

People going through treatment are often:

• Managing grief from fertility struggles or miscarriage

• Holding hope and fear at the same time

• Coping with medication side effects

• Trying to function professionally while emotionally overwhelmed

All while watching colleagues book holidays they cannot take because their annual leave has quietly disappeared into hospital corridors and waiting rooms. We would never expect someone undergoing cancer treatment, cardiac care or any other medical intervention to hide it behind “leave requests”. So why is it acceptable here?

A Legal Blind Spot with Real Consequences

Once someone becomes pregnant, maternity rights apply. But IVF, often the route to pregnancy, is still not legally protected.

Government guidance suggests employers should be supportive, but of course suggestions are not safeguards. Therefore support currently depends on:

• Where you work

• Who your manager is

• Whether your company “gets it”

There are brilliant employers leading the way, but right now, support is inconsistent and optional. It shouldn’t be a postcode lottery of workplace culture.

We therefore need:

• A legal right to time off for fertility appointments

• Clear guidance for employers

• Recognition of IVF as medical care

• Protection from fertility-related discrimination

If we value families, we must value the paths people take to build them.

The Business Case

This isn’t only about compassion, it’s also practical. Without proper support, employers face:

• Increased stress and burnout

• Absenteeism

• Decreased productivity

• Higher turnover and hiring costs

Doing nothing is not just unfair, it’s expensive.

What Good Support Looks Like

Paid leave for IVF appointments is one piece of the puzzle. Real support includes:

• A clear fertility policy

• Manager training

• Flexibility during cycles

• Confidential wellbeing support

• A workplace culture where fertility isn’t taboo

Support doesn’t guarantee a baby, but it does give dignity, stability and fairness.

Not a Niche Issue, But A Mainstream Workplace Reality

One in six couples faces infertility. Add to that single women, LGBTQ+ families and people preserving fertility for medical reasons, and this is a mainstream workplace issue. Behind every HR policy conversation is a human being navigating one of the most vulnerable periods of their life.

We owe them care, not silence.

Progress Is Happening, But It’s Not Enough Yet

Momentum is building. Awareness is rising. Employers are changing. Organisations like Women in Work Summit are pushing this forward. We’re seeing more fertility-friendly policies emerge, and conversations that didn’t exist five years ago happening in boardrooms and HR forums.

But until there is a legal right to time off for fertility treatment, the burden still sits on individuals:

• People injecting in office toilets

• People using holiday for medical procedures

• People quietly breaking down after bad news at the clinic, then returning to spreadsheets

That is not good enough.

Fertility treatment is medical treatment. It deserves legal recognition, workplace protection and a system that understands modern family-building.

No one should have to rely on luck, goodwill or silence to access medical care.

From The Fertility Show

At The Fertility Show, we hear these stories daily - either from our live event, through our webinars, socials and across our community.

We meet the people behind the statistics. We hear the resilience, the strain, the hope. And we know it is time for real change.

No one should ever have to choose between their job and their chance to become a parent.

If You’re Going Through This

You are not being “difficult”. You are not asking for special treatment. You are not alone.

You are undergoing medical care. You deserve support, dignity and protection.

And we will continue to champion that.

If You’re an Employer

Supporting fertility isn’t just good HR, but good leadership. It builds loyalty, trust and retention. If your business doesn’t yet have a fertility policy, this is your moment to start.

Final Thought

For all our scientific progress, our policies must catch up. We cannot celebrate incredible reproductive innovation while leaving people to navigate the emotional, physical and financial toll in silence.

It’s time to evolve our system. It’s time to protect IVF patients at work.

Not secrecy. Not sick days. Not luck.

A right. Because fertility treatment is healthcare.