Preventing teenage pregnancy

The Local Government Association (LGA) is calling for a renewed national action on prevention in light of the recent upward trend in teenage pregnancies.

In the 25 years since the publication of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy for England, public health teams based in local councils in England have worked in partnership to effectively reduce under-18 conception rates by 70 per cent. Areas with the highest levels of deprivation have seen the steepest decline.

Despite this progress, under-18 conceptions and abortions have risen since 2020, alongside a decline in condom use among adolescents and funding cuts are pushing councils from upstream prevention to downstream crisis response.

Alongside improved outcomes for teenagers, investment in teenage pregnancy programmes delivers substantial cost-saving benefits to public services through reduced demand on health, social care, housing and education services – with every £1 spent, £4 is saved.

The call to Government is backed by two newly published guides for councils. The guides highlight the importance of relationships and sex education, youth-friendly contraceptive services, targeted support for at-risk young people, and comprehensive support for young parents.

Gillian McLauchlan, ADPH’s spokesperson for sexual and reproductive health, said:

“Until recently, the reduction in the number of teenage pregnancies has been one of the unsung success stories of public health. This success wasn’t by chance, but instead was the result of an evidence-based national strategy which is no longer in place.

“As the guides the LGA has published today show, there are many examples of how, at a local level, councils work in partnership across the country to provide high-quality relationship and sex education, youth-friendly contraceptive services, and targeted support for those most at risk of unplanned pregnancy.

“However, funding for this work has been consistently cut over the last decade and, despite the people on the ground’s best efforts, it has become impossible to meet rising demand.

“To reverse the rise in teenage pregnancy at the same time as reducing the rates of STIs, the Government must work with local leaders to develop a national strategy that incorporates the successes from previous work. Of course, this will also need to be backed by adequate resource so that we can reach as many young people as possible.”

The LGA is calling on Government to act now to prevent further rises in teenage pregnancy by:

• Restoring national leadership.
• Delivering a new sexual and reproductive health (SRH) strategy.
• Fixing the data gap.
• Investing in prevention that works.
• Joining up youth policy.