How Much Does Cord Blood Banking Cost?

Private storage with Cells4Life starts from as little as £550 upfront, with a small annual fee.

Plus, there are payment plans available to spread the cost over 12 months, making cord blood banking less expensive than you might think.

However, when it comes to potentially safeguarding your baby’s health, it’s important to know what you’re getting for your money. 

We offer a whole range of storage options, from cord blood only all the way through to our VIP service, which includes the storage of cord blood, cord tissue, placenta, and amnion. 

To help guide you through the process of selecting the right service, we’ve put together this explainer, so you know what’s included in each service and how much it costs. 

 

What is cord blood banking?

Cord blood banking is the collection, testing, and storage of blood from the umbilical cord, as well as other perinatal tissues such as cord tissue, placenta, and amnion.

The umbilical cord and placenta are both sources of precious stem cells that are your baby’s own perfect biological match. In recent years, stem cells have emerged as a valuable resource in the field of regenerative medicine.

Donor cord blood stem cells have been used in approved therapies for over 80 conditions. Furthermore, with thousands of clinical trials investing the use of umbilical cord stem cells, scientists are working towards developing therapies for conditions like cancer, diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease. By saving them now for your baby, you’re investing in their future health.

Privately storing your baby’s stem cells means that your baby has access to their own perfect genetic stem cell match. While autologous cells for genetic conditions would require gene modification to be used, having these cells available secures a unique biological resource that could be utilised in a future treatment, should clinical trials be successful. Plus, it provides potential protection for their siblings due to their chances of being a perfect or partial match.

The collection process is 100% safe, non-invasive and is carried out in a separate room after the birth by a licensed phlebotomist.

 

Our packages

ACCESS

Our lowest cost service, ACCESS includes the storage of cord blood only. 

Up-front cost: £550.

Annual fee: £145 with the first year of storage included.

 

GOLD

Our most affordable service, GOLD includes the storage of cord blood and cord tissue, with a higher upfront cost but a reduced annual fee. 

Up-front cost: £2,650.

Annual fee: £120 with the first year of storage included.

 

PLATINUM

Our most popular service, PLATINUM includes the storage of both umbilical cord blood and cord tissue. It also includes our proprietary processing method CellsPlus, and storage in multiple samples across dual locations with SecurePlus.

Up-front cost: £3,690.

Annual fee: £120 with the first year of storage included.

 

VIP

Our most comprehensive package, VIP includes the storage of umbilical cord blood, cord tissue, amnion and placenta. It also includes our CellsPlus and SecurePlus upgrades.

Up-front cost: £6,515.

Annual fee: £240 with first year of storage included.

 

Upgrades

We offer a range of upgrades to our ACCESS, GOLD, and PLATINUM services, all of which come as standard in our VIP package.

 

CellsPlus

Our proprietary processing method, CellsPlus retains up to 2.2x more viable stem cells than than our standard service, Cells. Cells uses the AXP processing technology also trusted by the NHS.

Most therapies require a minimum number of cells for a sample to be used, so our goal is to preserve as many as we can for your baby. Having more cells in storage helps to maximise the utility of your sample, potentially enabling access to more treatment opportunities, cell count permitting.

Upgrade to add CellsPlus for £750.

 

SecurePlus

At Cells4Life we give you the chance to store the cells from cord blood, tissue and amnion in multiple portions across two locations. 

This means that your baby can use their sample more than once if cell count allows, unfreezing only what they need. It also gives you the peace of mind that if anything should happen at one location, they still have stem cells securely stored at the other.

Upgrade to add SecurePlus for £175 for blood only services or £290 for blood and tissue packages.

 

Additional costs

Should you require a phlebotomist to carry out the collection, this will cost you extra. The NHS won’t do this for you. We use a company called Phlebotomy UK which costs £300.

 

Storage fees and term

Our storage fees range from £120 to £240, with the first year of storage included. Our storage term is 25 years, which is designed to protect from price changes arising from inflation. We have only raised our storage fees once in 20 years.

 

What else is involved?

For UK collections we aim to receive your baby’s samples at our laboratories within 24 hours. 

Once they’re here we carry out a range of tests to check for contamination. We will also require a maternal blood sample. 

Once they’ve passed testing your baby’s samples will be put into cryogenic storage, safely preserved for your baby to use in future should they ever need them. 

 

How can I find out more?

To find out more about cord blood banking with Cells4Life, and for more information on which service would be right for you, fill in your details below for a free Welcome Pack.

Alternatively, you can contact our team directly by emailing us at enquiry@cells4life.com, or call us on 01444 873 950.