Most maternity benefits are designed around the parts of pregnancy that are readily managed from an HR perspective, such as leave, pay, and the return-to-work conversation. The more clinical aspects, including the year of appointments between a positive test and a due date, are usually coordinated through the NHS, with only occasional support from employer-funded private medical insurance.  

That gap is where most of the pregnancy-related anxiety employees face comes from, and it is also where a relatively small budget goes a long way. This guide sets out what the NHS provides, when and why employees most often choose to go private, and what it costs, so that a benefit can be designed around clinical timings and employee experiences, rather than guesswork.

What the NHS provides, and where the gaps are

NHS maternity care in England offers two routine scans. There is a dating scan at around 11 to 14 weeks, usually combined with screening for chromosomal conditions, and an anomaly scan at around 18 to 21 weeks. Both are good, and for most pregnancies they are enough.

Three gaps come up repeatedly in pregnancy scans and antenatal care:

• Before 11 weeks, there is generally nothing. An employee with spotting, a previous loss, or who is simply feeling anxious typically has to wait until the dating scan, unless alarming symptoms take them to an early pregnancy unit, and an early scan is medically necessary. This is the single biggest driver of self-funded private scans.

• Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) is not routinely funded by the NHS. The NHS offers a screening test called the combined test, which checks for potential issues. NIPT is only provided on the NHS in England if the combined test shows a higher chance of a problem, meaning additional testing is needed. If someone wishes to have NIPT as their first choice, they will need to pay for it themselves.

• Between the 20-week scan and birth, growth and wellbeing scans are offered only where there is a clinical indication. An employee with no risk factors but real anxiety has no route to reassurance.

The timeline for employer-funded pregnancy scans

Different pregnancy scans are necessary at different weeks of gestation and are not interchangeable. The calendar matters more than the price list. Funding "a scan" without reference to gestation tends to produce a benefit employees cannot use at the moment they need it.

6 to 9 weeks  

The early pregnancy or viability scan. It confirms that the pregnancy is in the uterus rather than ectopic, checks for a heartbeat, and dates the pregnancy accurately. Around 7 weeks is the ideal point. Before that, a heartbeat can be too early to see even in a perfectly healthy pregnancy, and a repeat a week or two later is sometimes needed. Our early pregnancy scans page explains the options in this window.

10 to 16 weeks

The early anomaly window. Modern ultrasound can exclude a substantial number of major structural anomalies well before the 20-week scan, and this is also the window in which NIPT is usually taken, because a blood sample from 10 weeks carries enough foetal DNA to test reliably.

20 to 25 weeks  

The detailed anomaly scan. The NHS provides this. Employees typically go private here only for a second opinion after an uncertain finding.

26 weeks onwards

Growth, wellbeing and presentation scans. This is where employees with no clinical indication but a difficult history most often self-fund.

What it costs

For budgeting purposes, private pregnancy scans in London generally run from around £140 for an early viability scan to £260 to £360 for a detailed or consultant-led scan, with NIPT packages higher because they include both the laboratory test and a scan. Our published fees are the current figures, and we keep a plain-English guide to what private pregnancy scans cost across the UK.

In practice, a maternity benefit that covers two or three scans across a pregnancy, one early, one mid, one late,  meets almost all of what employees actually ask for. That is a smaller commitment than most HR teams assume before they look at the numbers.

Time off is part of the benefit  

Whatever an employer funds, pregnant employees have a statutory right to paid time off for antenatal care made on the advice of a doctor, registered midwife or registered nurse, from their first day of employment. Fertifa has written about the detail of those rights. The practical point is that a scan an employee cannot attend during working hours is a benefit they cannot use. Employers who fund scans without also making the time off explicit tend to see low take-up for reasons that have nothing to do with the clinical offer.

Designing something employees will actually use

From what we see on the clinic side, the antenatal care benefits that get used share four features:

• They cover the first trimester. This is the period of highest anxiety and lowest NHS provision, and it is where a funded scan changes an employee's week most.

• They do not require a referral for a routine reassurance scan. A referral requirement adds a GP appointment to a process the employee started because they wanted an answer quickly.

• They say plainly whether NIPT is included. It is the single most asked-about test and the one most often assumed to be covered when it is not.

• They pair the funding with an explicit line about paid time off, so nobody has to negotiate with a line manager to use a benefit the company already bought.

If you are building or reviewing a maternity benefit and want to sanity-check the clinical side, our team is happy to talk it through. You can reach us via the London Pregnancy Clinic contact page.

Frequently asked questions

At what stage can an employee have a private pregnancy scan?

From around 6 weeks, although 7 weeks onwards gives clearer answers. Before 7 weeks a heartbeat can be too early to see even in a healthy pregnancy, so a repeat scan is sometimes needed. Most scans between 6 and 7 weeks are booked because of symptoms such as spotting or light bleeding.

Is a private scan uncomfortable or invasive?

In most cases an early scan is performed over the tummy, in the ordinary way. An internal (transvaginal) scan is offered where it would give a clearer view of a very early pregnancy, and it is always discussed and agreed with the patient first.

Does the NHS offer NIPT?

Only in specific circumstances. NHS screening in England offers the combined test first, and NIPT is offered afterwards where that result shows a higher chance. Employees who want NIPT as their first-line screening test pay for it privately. See NHS guidance on screening in pregnancy for the NHS pathway.

How many scans should a maternity benefit cover?

Two or three across a pregnancy — one in the first trimester, one mid-pregnancy, one in the third trimester — covers the overwhelming majority of what employees request, without funding scans that duplicate NHS provision.

Can employees claim paid time off for a scan the employer has funded?

The statutory right to paid time off applies to antenatal care made on the advice of a doctor, registered midwife or registered nurse, and it applies from day one of employment. See gov.uk on working when pregnant. Employers funding scans as a benefit should make clear in the policy that attending them is treated as antenatal care.

This article is general information about pregnancy scanning and benefit design, not medical advice about any individual pregnancy. Employees should speak to their midwife, GP or obstetrician about their own care.