Data from the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), obtained by The Times via a Freedom of Information request, shows that between 2020 and 2025, people in their 80s submitted a small but notable number of applications for parental orders.
Cafcass declined to release the exact figure, citing privacy concerns, but confirmed fewer than six such applications were made annually—amounting to a possible maximum of thirty cases over the five-year period.
This comes amid broader concerns about an upward trend in older applicants seeking parental status through surrogacy.
Between 2020 and 2025, there were 416 applications from individuals in their fifties and 43 from men in their sixties, according to Cafcass. Also, applications from men in their fifties nearly doubled during the same period—from 44 in 2020 to 95 in 2025.
Helen Gibson, founder of Surrogacy Concern, criticized the growing trend: "We are appalled to see parental order applications for surrogate-born babies being made by people in their sixties, seventies and eighties — there can be no justification for such a selfish act."
She added: "The Government must act urgently to empower the courts to block these parental order applications and ban the pursuit of surrogacy abroad by Britons."
In one case, a couple in their seventies—both aged 72—were granted a parental order for a 14-month-old boy born through a surrogacy arrangement in California. The child was conceived using the husband’s sperm and a donor egg. Although the ruling was approved on March 28, the presiding judge, Mrs. Justice Knowles, raised concerns over the couple’s advanced age. In her judgment, she noted: “Put starkly, Mr and Mrs K will both be 89 years old when B reaches his majority [18 years old].”
The pair reportedly paid over £151,000 to the surrogate and agency, with only £24,635 deemed “reasonably incurred” by the court. Justice Knowles stated that her judgment was made public to highlight a “welfare issue” and to offer guidance to those considering surrogacy abroad.
Campaigners have condemned the absence of any legal upper age limit for intended parents or surrogate mothers in the UK. Lexi Ellingsworth of Stop Surrogacy Now UK described the system as flawed, saying: “This appalling loophole which enables people to get around our domestic ban on commercial surrogacy practices must be closed by the Government immediately.”
While surrogacy is legal in the UK, commercial arrangements are not. British law prohibits payment beyond reasonable expenses and does not allow advertising for surrogates. At birth, the surrogate is legally considered the child’s mother. Parental orders must be filed within six months of the child’s birth to transfer legal parenthood.
