Lower the age for invites to regular mammograms to 40 & perform annually
106,212 people signed this petition to the UK Parliament after it opened on 9 October 2025; it closed on 9 April 2026. The Government responded on 21 November 2025. MPs debated it in Westminster Hall on 29 June 2026.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Lower the age for invites to regular mammograms to 40 & perform annually
Lower the age for when you are first called to 40 and provide funding to carry out Mammograms Annually instead of every Three Years
Early detection is key and the prevalence of Breast Cancer in young patients is rising
I am a Chemotherapy Nurse and working in this Clinical Setting for 8 Years and I have seen a rise in Breast Cancer in Patients under the Age of 40 increase.
Early detection is key in identifying those Aggressive forms of Breast Cancer
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 21 November 2025; the petitions site lists the Department of Health and Social Care as responsible. Its summary:
In line with independent advice from the UK National Screening Committee, the Government does not intend to lower the age or increase the frequency of breast screens.
The opening 340 words of the 441-word response:
The Government is guided by the independent scientific advice of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), and it is only where the offer to screen provides more good than harm that a screening programme is recommended. The UK NSC makes its recommendations based on internationally recognised criteria and a rigorous evidence review and consultation process.
As screening programmes can also cause harms, each of the adult screening programmes has both an upper and lower age range, within which there is good scientific evidence that the benefits of screening outweigh the harms.
Women younger than the age of 50 are not routinely screened for breast cancer due to the lower risk of women under this age developing breast cancer, and the fact that women below 50 tend to have denser breasts. The denseness of breast tissue reduces the ability of getting an accurate mammogram, the accepted screening test for breast cancer.
Due to this and other factors, there is a risk of over treatment and distress for women who do not have breast cancer but would be subjected to invasive and painful medical treatments and diagnostic tests.
The 2012 UK independent review of breast cancer screening (the Marmot review) estimated that inviting women aged 50-70 reduces mortality from breast cancer in the population invited by 20% and saves an estimated 1,300 lives a year. The Marmot review found that screening women outside the ages of 50-70 could lead to over-diagnosis (referring women for unnecessary tests) and over-treatment (operating on women with disease which is unlikely to cause serious harm to them).
We are in line with most European countries, most of whom screen women between the ages of 50-69.
Women with a very high risk of breast cancer (for example, due to family history) may be offered screening earlier and more frequently, sometimes using MRI rather than a mammogram.
The UK NSC keeps these age brackets under review. The Committee recognises that screening programmes are not static and that, over time, they may need to change to be more effective.
Read the full response on the petitions site.
Where the signatures came from
Signatures came from 650 constituencies. Measured against each constituency's electorate at the 2024 general election, the most came from East Thanet, with 60.5 signatures per 1,000 electors (4,533 in all).
105,869 of the signatures were from the UK and 343 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.
| Constituency | Signatures | Electorate, July 2024 | Per 1,000 electors |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Thanet | 4,533 | 74,927 | 60.5 |
| Herne Bay and Sandwich | 2,506 | 77,869 | 32.2 |
| Dover and Deal | 1,322 | 76,406 | 17.3 |
| Canterbury | 774 | 71,155 | 10.9 |
| Faversham and Mid Kent | 681 | 74,301 | 9.2 |
| Gillingham and Rainham | 658 | 73,523 | 8.9 |
| Ashford | 548 | 76,233 | 7.2 |
| Staffordshire Moorlands | 505 | 69,892 | 7.2 |
| Maidstone and Malling | 546 | 76,449 | 7.1 |
| Chatham and Aylesford | 505 | 75,109 | 6.7 |
| Region | Signatures |
|---|---|
| South East | 28,443 |
| East of England | 11,205 |
| North West | 10,603 |
| London | 10,517 |
| West Midlands | 8,730 |
| South West | 7,658 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 6,988 |
| East Midlands | 6,252 |
| Scotland | 5,978 |
| Wales | 3,848 |
| North East | 3,382 |
| Northern Ireland | 1,588 |
Debate in Parliament
MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on 29 June 2026. Read the debate in Hansard. House of Commons Library debate pack.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/742179.jsonUK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
edf81cf29a9f8cc1… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.