Publication, Part of Breast Screening Programme

Breast Screening Programme, England, 2024-25

National statistics, Official statistics, Accredited official statistics

Publication Date:: 19 Feb 2026
Geographic Coverage:: England
Geographical Granularity:: Country, Government Office Regions, Regions, Local Authorities
Date Range:: 01 Apr 2024 to 31 Mar 2025

Programme summary

Overview

This publication presents information about the NHS Breast Screening Programme (‘the programme’) in England in 2024-25. It reports on women who are invited for regular screening, presenting information on coverage, overall screening activity, invitation uptake, screening outcomes and cancers detected.

Under the programme, women from the age of 50 to their 71st birthday (50-<71) are invited for regular breast screening every 3 years. The intention of the screening programme is to detect breast cancer at an early stage when there is a better chance of successful treatment.

In some circumstances, women outside of this age range are also screened as part of the programme through self-referral. Statistics for women at very high risk of breast cancer are treated separately in this report, their data are reported in section 7.

When comparing screening activity in 2024-25 to previous years, bear in mind that between 2020-21 and 2022-23 the NHS Breast Screening Programme was significantly impacted by disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic. See COVID impact summary for details.

Data collection and validation processes were completed in compliance with the national data collection exercise, therefore, the accuracy and reliability of the statistics published in this report are of a comparable standard to previous years.

Coverage

(ages 53 to <71)

At 31 March 2025:

71.8% of eligible women were up to date with screening. This is higher than 2023-24 (70%).

Referrals

(ages 45+)

In 2024-25:

73,451 women were referred for diagnostic assessment; 3.4% of those screened.

Outcomes

(ages 45+)

In 2024-25:

19,291 women had a cancer detected, 79.5% of these were invasive cancers.

Presentation of data

Throughout this report, data are presented for several age ranges based on the appropriate definition in each case.

50 - <71 years

Core age range for the programme

Women are eligible to be invited to screening when they reach the age of 50 until they reach their 71st birthday.

53 - <71 years

Measurement for coverage

Coverage is measured for women aged 53 - <71, rather than 50 - <71, although a woman may first be invited any time between their 50th and 53rd birthday.

By the age of 53, all eligible women should have received an invitation.

45 years and over (45+)

Measurement for screening activity

Women outside the core age range (50 - <71 years) can be screened without an invitation through self-referral.

This age range therefore captures the full programme activity.

(Women cannot self-refer when aged below 50 years.)

Publication resources

Report bulletin (this document)

Presents a detailed summary of the findings from the 2024-25 data collection.
Further information on the data presented within this report is available in the additional publication resources outlined here.

Interactive dashboard

The main report is accompanied by an interactive data dashboard. Data are presented in maps and charts. This allows comparison between areas as well as showing changes over time.
The geographic breakdowns included in the dashboard are Upper Tier Local Authority (LA), Breast Screening Service and region.
Coverage data is available in the dashboard from 2017 to 2025. Uptake data is available for 2012-13 to 2024-25.
Breast Screening Interactive Dashboard

Data tables

Contain all relevant statistics for 2024-25 and earlier years where they form part of a timeseries.
Available in Excel or csv format.

Appendices

Further detail on a number of topics including:
- Publication context
- Coverage definitions
- Changes to the programme
- Data collection

Quality statement

Contextual information to aid understanding and presentation of the data including the methods used to compile the statistics and other background information that users may find helpful.

Last edited: 19 February 2026 9:31 am

Breast Screening Programme, England, 2024-25

Programme summary

Overview

Publication resources

Pages in this publication