Public health policy is devolved; this briefing discusses HIV testing, treatment, prevalence and policy arrangements in England.
National HIV testing week
National HIV Testing Week is an annual campaign run by HIV Prevention England, running between 10 and 16 February 2025. It aims to promote regular testing in England, particularly among groups at increased risk of contracting HIV. The campaign is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) (PDF) and supported by the Terrence Higgins Trust.
During this week, people can either order a self test for HIV or a self-sampling kit to test for HIV and syphilis, for free.
Tests can be ordered online. People can choose to send their sample to a lab (where it will also be tested for syphilis) and receive their results as a text message. Alternatively, they can order a rapid self-test to be taken at home.
Background
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) damages cells in the immune system and weakens a person’s ability to fight infections and disease. HIV is distinct from acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) – a term used to describe a range of infections and illnesses which can result from a weakened immune system caused by HIV. If HIV is left untreated, it can lead to AIDS.
HIV can be transmitted from one person to another through bodily fluids, including semen, vaginal and anal fluid and blood. HIV can also be transmitted through sharing needles, syringes or other injecting equipment, or from mother to baby during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding. HIV cannot be transmitted through sweat, urine or saliva. In the UK, the most common way of getting HIV is through having anal or vaginal sex without a condom.
Some groups of people are at higher risk of becoming infected with HIV. These include:
- People with a current or previous partner with HIV.
- Men who have unprotected sex with men, people who inject drugs and share equipment.
- People who have received a blood transfusion, transplant or other risk-prone procedures in countries that do not have strong screening for HIV.
The NHS website provides information about the treatment and prevention of HIV and AIDS.
Treatment
HIV is treated using antiretroviral medicines. They stop the virus replicating in the body and allow the immune system to repair itself and prevent further damage. The aim of HIV treatment is for the affected person to have an ‘undetectable viral load’, meaning the level of HIV in the body is too low to be detected by a test.
Prevention
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a practice where a HIV-negative person takes antiretroviral medication to reduce the likelihood of contracting HIV from an infected partner. PrEP can be taken regularly, or alternatively, immediately before and after sex. PrEP is available as tablets that contain two medicines called tenofovir disoproxil and emtricitabine. People at higher risk of contracting HIV can obtain PrEP from sexual health clinics.
The NHS website explains that a condom is the most effective form of protection against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. It also sets out how lubricant can be used to reduce the risk of transmission and warns against sharing needles and injecting equipment because of the associated risk of transmission.
People can contact their local sexual health service to access HIV testing, prevention and treatment.
Statistics
Around 107,950 people were living with diagnosed HIV infection and accessing care in the UK in 2022. Numbers have tended to increase year on year over the past decade, rising by 34% since 2013 (80,560 people)
As the chart below illustrates, in each year men make up around two thirds of those living with HIV.

Source: UK Health Security Agency HIV: annual data tables – UK tables
In 2023, there were 6,402 HIV diagnoses in the UK, this was a 46% increase from 4,379 in 2022. The number of newly diagnosed cases of HIV had shown a declining trend between 2014 and 2021.
The recent increase is largely explained by a rise in cases which were first diagnosed outside the UK. Just over half (52%) of new infections in 2023 were first diagnosed outside the UK. These infections were likely acquired abroad and therefore do not reflect a rise in transmission in the UK.

Source: UK Health Security Agency HIV: annual data tables – UK tables
HIV testing in England
In England, local authorities are responsible for providing HIV testing services, along with other public health services. Each local authority receives an allocation from the government’s ring-fenced public health grant. Under the grant, the DHSC made £3.6 billion available to local authorities for 2024/25. The government is yet to publish details of the 2025-26 grant.
Local authorities may directly provide or commission sexual health services, and providers commonly include general practice, sexual health clinics and community partners. People wishing to access HIV testing can contact their local sexual health service.
Opt-out testing
‘Opt-out testing’ describes a scenario in which patients attending A&E departments automatically have their blood samples tested for HIV, hepatitis C and hepatitis B, unless they choose not to.
In April 2022, NHS England began to introduce opt-out testing in emergency departments located in areas with very high prevalence of diagnosed HIV. The programme has since been expanded to 34 areas.
A report published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in November 2024 noted 391 new HIV diagnoses across 21 of the 34 sites between April 2022 and December 2023.
In November 2024, Prime Minister Keir Starmer committed to providing £27 million to expand the opt-out programme.
DHSC Minister Andrew Gwynne said more than 90 sites will be offered funding to continue or commence opt-out testing, until March 2026. Mr Gwynne explained that NHS England would evaluate the costs and feasibility of further extending the programme to cover hepatitis B and C, once budgets for 2025/26 are confirmed. He also said there were no plans to extend opt-out testing beyond emergency departments. However, he said DHSC, UKHSA and NHS England were working together in the development of a new HIV Action Plan, which would include a focus on scaling up HIV testing.
The HIV Action Plan for England
In 2019, the government set out an ambition to end the transmission of HIV in England by 2030.
Welcoming this ambition, three national charities, Terrence Higgins Trust, National AIDS Trust and Elton John AIDS Foundation established the HIV Commission to support its delivery. The Commission, which has been endorsed by government, considered how the Government could achieve the 2030 target and published its recommendations in a December 2020 report. This included:
- England should take the necessary steps to be the first country to end new HIV transmissions, by 2030, with an 80% reduction by 2025.
- National government must drive and be accountable for reaching this goal through publishing a comprehensive national HIV Action Plan in 2021.
- HIV testing must become routine – opt-out, not opt-in, across the health service.
In December 2021, the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) published Towards Zero: HIV Action Plan for England 2022 to 2025.
Principally, it set out how the Government intends to achieve the interim ambition, set by the HIV Commission, of reducing new HIV transmissions in England by 80%, by 2025. It also sets out progress the Government hopes to make by 2025, towards its 2030 ambition of zero new HIV infections, AIDS and HIV-related deaths in England:
- To reduce the number of people first diagnosed in England from 2,860 in 2019, to under 600 in 2025.
- To reduce the number of people diagnosed with AIDS within 3 months of HIV diagnosis from 219 to under 110.
- To reduce deaths from HIV/AIDS in England from 230 in 2019 to under 115.
In November 2024, the UKHSA published its HIV Action Plan monitoring and evaluation framework 2024 report, which highlights key achievements under each of the Plan’s objectives.
It acknowledged “substantial progress” made in reducing new HIV diagnoses first made in England between 2019 and 2023, particularly among men exposed through sex between men. However, it noted that the current trajectory makes it “highly unlikely that the 2025 target of 80% reduction in new diagnoses will be met for any population”.
It noted “widening inequalities in access to HIV prevention interventions, treatment and ongoing care, quality of life and stigma across most demographic characteristics, in particular, age, ethnicity, gender identity and exposure”.
It reported that HIV diagnoses fell by 12% from 2,801 in 2019 to 2,451 in 2022, before rising by 15% to 2,810 in 2023.
DHSC Minister Andrew Gwynne said DHSC, UKHSA and NHS England are working together to develop a new HIV Action Plan, and aimed to publish this in summer 2025.
Parliamentary material
Parliamentary questions
HIV Infection: Health Services
UIN 19788 | 18 December 2024
Asked by: Kate Osborne
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to (a) measure and (b) ensure improvements in the quality of life of people living with HIV.
Answering member: Andrew Gwynne | Department of Health and Social Care
The UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) provides key surveillance and data for HIV, including annual official HIV statistics and reports. Their recently published HIV Action Plan Monitoring and Evaluation Framework 2024 report provides key indicators of the quality of life of people living with HIV, and recommendations for improvements to HIV care. The UKHSA also publishes the Positive Voices survey report periodically, updated recently in 2024, which includes questions on people’s lived experience and stigma. As part of the current HIV Action Plan, the Department funds HIV Prevention England, which hosted a HIV Stigma Symposium in March 2024. This brought together approximately 100 community experts, activists, healthcare professionals, and people with lived experience to discuss the impact of HIV stigma and explore effective stigma reduction strategies across the country. This evidence will inform the Government’s new HIV Action Plan, which is due to be published in summer 2025. We will consider the key actions needed to support the groups disproportionately affected by HIV, to ensure improvements in the quality of life of all people living with HIV.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Screening
UIN 19785 | 18 December 2024
Asked by: Kate Osborne
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will provide (a) funding and (b) resources to support a year-round online (i) HIV and (ii) STI postal testing service.
Answering member: Andrew Gwynne | Department of Health and Social Care
Scaling up HIV testing for all population groups will be a key objective of the new HIV Action Plan, which is due to be published in summer 2025. We are currently working together with the UK Health Security Agency, NHS England, and other key stakeholders and considering which testing interventions would be best suited to achieve our ambitions, including the most effective role for online testing.
On 28 November 2024, the Prime Minister confirmed £27 million of additional funding for 2025/26 to expand the highly successful National Health Service emergency department opt-out HIV testing programme, supporting national HIV testing. As part of the extension of the programme, approximately 90 sites will be offered funding to roll out HIV opt-out testing until March 2026. Further funding will be confirmed in due course after the spending review phase two process has concluded.
Local authorities in England are responsible for commissioning open access sexual health services, including HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing services, through the public health grant, funded at £3.6 billion in 2024/25. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need, and to commission the services that best suit their population, including decisions about online, face to face or postal testing services. We have set up the national HIV and syphilis self-sampling framework to assist local authority commissioners with providing online testing to their residents.
Debates
World AIDS Day
27 November 2024 | Westminster Hall | 757 cc341WH-358WH
National HIV Testing Week
8 February 2024 | House of Commons | 745 cc390-403
Further reading
Press and stakeholder material
Press releases and government publications
- UK Health Security Agency, ED testing finds thousands with undiagnosed HIV, Hepatitis B & C, 28 November 2024
- Prime Minister’s Office, “I am determined this generation will be the one that ends new cases of HIV within England by 2030”, Prime Minister said ahead of World AIDS Day, 29 November 2024
- NHS England, NHS HIV testing rollout identifies hundreds of new cases, 30 November 2022
- Department of Health and Social Care, Towards Zero: the HIV Action Plan for England – 2022 to 2025, 21 December 2021
Devolved administrations
- Waverly Care, Let’s Put Scotland to the Test – National HIV Testing Week, February 2025
- The Herald Scotland, Extra funding announced to battle HIV as levels of testing remain down, 1 December 2024
- Scottish Government, Ending HIV Transmission in Scotland by 2030: HIV Transmission Elimination Delivery Plan 2023-26, 26 March 2024
- Public Health Wales, Home delivered test kit makes knowing HIV status easy, 19 November 2024
- Welsh Government, Written Statement: HIV Action Plan for Wales 2023-26: Annual Progress Statement, 18 November 2024
- Public Health Wales, Wales HIV Testing Week, November 2024
- Northern Ireland Public Health Agency, World AIDS Day: increased awareness and testing will reduce transmission, 29 November 2024