Compensation paid to egg and sperm donors will increase under proposals approved by the UK's fertility regulator.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has agreed to much higher payments in an effort to tackle serious shortages of both eggs and sperm, which are prompting growing numbers of British couples to seek fertility treatment abroad.

Since 2006 anyone who donates either sperm or eggs has received travel expenses they have incurred and compensation for loss of earnings of up to £61.28 a day but no more than £250 in total for each cycle of donation.

At its monthly meeting the authority ratified plans for raising that to a set figure of £750 for egg donors and paying sperm donors £35 for each visit to a clinic.

It believes the new fees will better reward people's altruism in helping others start families without setting sums so high that they would become bribes.

Professor Lisa Jardine, the HFEA's chairman, denied that the £750 payment would induce people to donate eggs purely for money. "I find it very hard to see the £750 as an inducement," she said. "I think it is a fair reflection of the effort and the time and the discomfort and the pain of some of it. I can't see any room there for inducement."

The new payments will start in mid-2012.

The authority said: "These figures are based broadly on comparators within the EU, a sense of what time and lifestyle alterations donors are required to make, and an acknowledgement of the communal and incredibly generous act people perform through the act of donation."

The HFEA move follows an in-depth review of donor compensation. It wants the UK to move to a system intended to pay "both egg and sperm donors a fixed sum, which reasonably compensates them for any financial losses as well as recognising their time, commitment and dedication to helping others form a family".

The physical rigours of donation, disruption to donors, and the need to improve childless Britons' chances of accessing the eggs or sperm they need, justify the move, the HFEA papers made clear.

An egg donor has to be examined, screened to ensure she is not carrying any serious genetic or infectious condition, undergo a series of hormone injections and then have eggs collected while either sedated or under general anaesthetic. She will also need time off work to recover and may experience side-effects such as tiredness, abdominal pain, bloating, mood swings and headaches.

Donation of sperm is also time-consuming, though less physically demanding. But donors have to refrain from sexual intercourse or drinking for at least three days before they donate, and return to the fertility clinic six months after their last donation to undergo a final round of screening tests.

The changes were welcomed by fertility campaigners, doctors who help childless couples and fertility clinics, which have been having problems recruiting enough donors.

Clare Lewis-Jones, chief executive of Infertility Network UK, said: "We hope that today's announcement to increase the payment to donors will help encourage more people to become donors. The balance between coercing people to donate by offering large sums of money, and paying enough to ensure donors are compensated for their expenses and the wonderful gift they are giving is a fine one."

Dr Allan Pacey, an expert in male fertility at Sheffield University, said the £250 cap "has arguably discriminated against egg donors, many of which have told me that they were 'out of pocket' at the end of their donation and did not feel they had been adequately compensated".

The HFEA also pledged to do more to promote donor recruitment, care for donors better and to raise awareness of the need for both forms of donation, steps which experts argued were needed.

Dr Thomas Mathews, medical director of Bourn Hall IVF clinic, welcomed the modernisation of the payment rules. "While it is vital that donation is voluntary and willingly entered into, we also need to understand that donation entails a commitment of time and inconvenience and this should be acknowledged," he said.

Laura Witjens, chair of the National Gamete Donation Trust (NGDT), said: "No amount of money will ever repay what an egg donor does to help childless couples. This priceless gift changes lives and donors truly do it to help others. The NGDT believes that altruistic motives should remain at the core of donation and that payment, although intended as an expression of gratitude, should never facilitate coercion.

"We therefore welcome the outcome of the HFEA donation consultation, where a balance is being struck between recognising the wonderful gift of donation yet not affecting the purity of donors' motives. It is in line with our recommendations to the HFEA and we are grateful they've been taken to heart."

The £750 payment to egg donors is based on the existing system in Spain, which gives women a fixed sum that equates to the average time out of pocket their act of donation involves.

The £35-a-time fees for sperm donors are modelled on Denmark's. The European sperm bank offers donors £30 a visit.