To prevent exploitation it is illegal to pay egg donors in the UK. Photograph: Chris Knapton/Alamy

The fertility regulator has launched an investigation into allegations that IVF clinics are inducing women to donate eggs in return for free or discounted treatment.

Women on low incomes who have healthy eggs but cannot get pregnant are being given complimentary treatment or offered a discount if they donate eggs at some clinics, which then resell them for a large profit, according to the Daily Mail.

The paper sent undercover reporters to IVF clinics posing as would-be parents who could not afford treatment. They were encouraged to donate eggs at clinics in London, Hertfordshire and County Durham.

To prevent exploitation it is illegal to pay donors, although compensation of up to 750 a cycle is permissible to cover any costs associated with the donation.

Sally Cheshire, the chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, said: We are very concerned by the allegations made in this investigation. At the HFEA our priority is the best possible treatment and care for patients and donors. If any patients at these clinics have worries about their care, they should contact us while we investigate further. We have already contacted the clinics involved and our inspectors will investigate each allegation. If we find poor practice in a clinic, we will take regulatory action.

The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, described the allegations as serious and worrying and urged anyone with concerns to contact the HFEA.

The Mail said the clinics charged couples as much as 7,500 a time for donated eggs. One consultant was filmed on a hidden camera telling the undercover reporters that the clinic offered discounted treatment because it could get more than 6,000 for the donated eggs. But he advised the couple not to state in writing that their reasons for donating were financial, as it is not allowed.

Egg sharing, where women receive IVF as a benefit in kind in return for donating eggs, is legal but there are strict rules on the information that should be provided to potential donors and how consent is obtained.

Prof Adam Balen, the chair of the British Fertility Society, said: Egg sharing practice is legitimate and can work well for those concerned, provided that it is combined with appropriate counselling for both donor and recipient. However, if there was adequate NHS funding of fertility treatments, many couples would not have the need to donate their own eggs in order to enable the funding of the treatment that they so desperately seek.

Many patients are required to self-fund treatment and so it is essential that [it is] made clear exactly what they are being charged for.

Funding cuts have led to a reduction in fertility treatment on the NHS. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends that women under 40 should be offered three cycles of IVF. Last year, only 16% of clinical commissioning groups in England most of them in the north of the country offered three cycles, down from 24% in 2013, according to Fertility Fairness.

In March, the Scottish government said it would fund three cycles for all eligible couples trying to start a family. In Wales, women under 40 are entitled to two cycles and in Northern Ireland women under 40 are offered one cycle.

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