Around 850,000 additional people in England a year will be eligible for the screening test as the home test kit programme is expanded to people aged 50-52, marking the final phase of the NHS ambition to reach the 50-74 age group.

Public health and prevention minister, Andrew Gwynne, said: ‘Bowel cancer screening saves lives from one of the most common cancers, so it's fantastic to see the expansion of the screening programme. 

‘The evidence is overwhelming - this rollout will catch more cases at an earlier stage, preventing deaths and giving our fantastic NHS staff the precious time needed to treat people earlier and improve their life chances. 

‘As part of our Plan for Change, we will make the NHS fit for the future and fight cancer on all fronts – through prevention, diagnosis, treatment and research.'

Over 4m more people were invited to the programme since roll out began in 2021.

Since the faecal immunochemical test (FIT) kit was introduced in April 2019, national uptake has increased from 59.2% to 65.2%.