Sexual and Reproductive Health Services, England (Contraception), 2023-24

This part provides a summary of activity recorded in the SRHAD collection. As the primary focus of the collection is contraception, it may not capture all non-contraception related activity taking place at SRH services. Overall contacts may be effected by changes in recording practices for non-contraception related activity over time, though efforts have been made with data providers in recent years to ensure completeness and consistency. Contacts for reasons of contraception should be less affected by these issues.

People may contact SRH services for a number of reasons, including but not exclusively:

• Provision of a main or supporting method of contraception, or contraception advice.
• Provision of emergency contraception.
• Removal of contraception devices.
• Sexual health advice and STI care.
• Pregnancy or abortion related issues.

For non-contraceptive activity taking place at SRH services, SRHAD only includes summary data. More detailed data on services relating to Genitourinary Medicine, is collated by the UK Health Security Agency:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/sexually-transmitted-infections-stis-annual-data-tables

A contact is defined as a contact with the service, including external contacts, i.e. where an individual patient receives care outside the clinic setting, for example in his or her own home. Non-face to face contacts were added to the scope in version 2 of SRHAD from 2015-16.

Contacts by year

In 2023-24, there were 2.08 million contacts with dedicated SRH services made by 1.16 million individuals. This was an increase of 16% compared to the number of contacts in 2022-23 (1.79 million). 

The number of contacts per year has fallen 6% since 2013-14 (when there were 2.21 million).  Changes over time may be affected by variation in the way services record the non-contraception related activity included in this measure.  

In 2023-24, there were 1.06 million contacts for reasons of contraception, a decrease of 0.6% compared to 2022-23 (1.07 million), and down 43% compared to 2014-15 (1.87 million). This data is not available prior to 2014-15 due to differences in how the data was collected.

Non face to face contacts

Non-face to face contacts (for example, by e-mail, telephone, SMS, talk type) were added to the scope in version 2 of SRHAD from 2015-16. Up to 2019-20, they accounted for only a small percent of annual contacts (between 1 and 3%). However in 2020-21, during which time the country was subject to long periods of Covid-related lockdown, this increased to 43% of contacts. In 2023-24, 29% of contacts were still not face to face at a clinic.

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For more information: Data tables 1 and 3b

A single contact with SRH services may involve more than one reason.   

Reason for contact by females

74% of all contacts with SRH services were by females (1.53 million contacts).

12% of female contacts involved the provision of a new main method of contraception, 12% a change of main method, and 24% the maintenance of an existing main method. This is a total of 48% of contacts where a main method was supplied or maintained.

10% involved pre-contraception advice, and 6% emergency contraception.

83% involved one or more other types of activity (whether with or without a contraception-related service). See table 5 in the Excel data tables for a full breakdown of this activity. 

Reason for contact by males

20% of all contacts with SRH services were by males (421 thousand contacts).

5% of male contacts involved the supply/maintenance of a main method, and 1% pre-contraception advice.

99% involved other activities (whether with or without a contraception-related service).

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For more information: Data tables 4 and 5

This section only includes people who used a service for reasons of contraception, including for emergency contraception and contraception related advice. 

Likelihood of contact by age and gender

4% of females between the ages of 13 and 54 had at least one contact with an SRH service for reasons of contraception, comparable to 4% in 2022/23, but down from 7% in 2014-15. For males in the same age group, it was only around 0.1% of the resident population.

The likelihood of a female contacting a service varies between ages.

Females aged 20 to 24 were most likely to use a service for contraception, with 8% having at least one contact during 2023-24.

2% of females aged 15 and 1% of females aged 13 to 14 had at least one contact. These equate to 1% of females aged 13 to 15.

Likelihood of contacts for reasons of contraception by females (aged 13 to 54), by Local Authority (LA) of patient residence

The likelihood of a female using an SRH service for reasons of contraception will be influenced by the availability of such services in their area of residence.

The proportion of the female population (aged 13 to 54) that used a service for reasons of contraception was highest in Blackpool, Hackney, and Lewisham (all 10%), then South Tyneside, Lambeth, Southwark, and Torbay (all 9%).

Across LAs, up to 26% of 18-19 year olds used a service for reasons of contraception, and up to 25% of 16-17 and 20-24 year olds, though there was a large amount of variation. See data table 16a for a full set of data by age group.

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For more information: Data tables 2a, 2b and 16a