A ban on the sale of sperm and eggs should be reviewed to help cut the number of childless British couples who travel abroad for treatment, according to Lisa Jardine, the head of the UK’s fertility watchdog.

She said that giving donors a payment beyond the £250 in expenses they are currently allowed would help to overcome the problems created by a shortage of donors. Fewer donors have come forward since their right to anonymity was removed four years ago, forcing many couples to either wait years to start a family or travel to clinics overseas.

Jardine, who took charge of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority in April 2008, told the Times: “I’m not saying the decision arrived at before I became chair wasn’t the right one at the time, but given the evidence that egg shortage is driving women overseas, I feel a responsibility to look at it again.”

The number of treatment cycles using donated eggs fell by 25% between 2004 and 2006, while the number of women using donated sperm fell by 30%. Jardine said that the principle of paying for donations, restricted in 2006, had been established through donation schemes where women are offered cheaper IVF treatment in return for some of their eggs.

Critics will complain that payment could encourage poorer women to put their health at risk through the hormonal treatment and procedures needed to extract eggs. But Jardine said that a transparent system of donation would make it easier for the authority to set standards.

“When [infertile couples] go abroad, there is undoubtedly exploitation. Although is it exploitation if you can’t feed your family? We’re very ready to say it’s exploitation, but if you discover you can make a year’s food money … I’d rather we had control over it here,” she said.

Jardine said she had no view on how much donors should be paid, but suggested women should receive a higher rate because egg donation involved more invasive procedures than sperm donation.

She also revealed that the authority is to discuss guidelines on donations between siblings, such as whether a brother should be allowed to donate sperm to his sister if she is using a donated egg.

The authority will also review the issue of donations between generations, such as the case of a 72-year-old British man who donated sperm to his daughter-in-law, and the Canadian Melanie Brown who froze eggs for her daughter Flavie, seven, who has a rare condition that could affect her fertility. “These are generous gestures, but we need to do some serious thinking about the social and psychological consequences,” said Jardine. “We know that when a child discovers she’s not her sister’s sister, but her sister’s daughter, it can cause absolute crisis.”