Key facts
- The 419 prescriptions cover children under 18 in England dispensed in a community setting anywhere in the UK, per the Guardian.
- The figures exclude private prescriptions, prisons and hospitals, so the Guardian said they are likely a considerable underestimate.
- One private clinic for children has previously said it has more than 200 patients receiving the medications, the Guardian reported.
- The Guardian said it is unclear whether the GLP-1 prescriptions were given primarily for weight loss.
- Martin Whyte of the University of Surrey said children starting the drugs should do so within specialist services with diet and growth support.
- Dr Dunia Ismail, who runs a Complications from Excess Weight clinic, said clinics have been sticking to age 12 and are looking at expanding to eight-plus once licence-approved.
England issued 419 prescriptions for GLP-1 medications to children under 18 in the financial year 2025-26, including 10 for children under 12, according to figures obtained by the Guardian from the NHS Business Services Authority through freedom of information requests. In the four months from April to July 2026, 341 prescriptions were issued to children, 15 of them to children under 12.
The figures cover prescriptions in England dispensed in a community setting anywhere in the UK. They do not cover private prescriptions, prisons or hospitals, so the Guardian said they are likely a considerable underestimate. One private clinic for children has previously said it has more than 200 patients receiving the medications. The Guardian said it is unclear whether the prescriptions were given primarily for weight loss.
GLP-1 medications were first developed to help people with type 2 diabetes control blood sugar, and products such as Wegovy and Mounjaro have since become widely used for weight loss. Martin Whyte, a professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Surrey, said the number of prescriptions was small relative to the scale of childhood obesity, but children who start the drugs need long-term lifestyle change. He said they should start within specialist services with support for diet, growth and wellbeing, and regular monitoring of growth, puberty, nutrition, mental health and side effects.
The figures come as childhood obesity levels rise. The National Child Measurement Programme shows 10.7% of reception-year children, ages 4 and 5, are obese, rising to 22.8% in year 6, ages 10 and 11. The World Health Organization says 400 million children and adolescents aged five to 19 were overweight in 2024, including 170 million living with obesity.
NHS England began piloting Complications from Excess Weight clinics in 2021 for children aged two to 16 with severe obesity. In May it said almost 6,500 children had been referred to such clinics, including more than 400 younger than four. Some CEW clinics can access funding for GLP-1s, typically dispensed through hospital pharmacies. Dr Dunia Ismail, a consultant paediatrician who runs a CEW clinic, said clinics have been sticking to age 12 and are looking at expanding to eight-plus once licence-approved.
The World Health Organization issued global guidelines last month stating obesity medications including GLP-1s should not be given to children under 10. Novo Nordisk, which makes Wegovy and Victoza, has run a trial involving 165 children aged 6 to under 12 that suggested GLP-1s can help young children with obesity. Julian Hamilton-Shield, a professor and clinician at the Bristol CEW clinic, said children given semaglutide there had typically been unable to lose weight through standard dietary advice and psychological support, and often had conditions such as type 2 diabetes or liver disease.