Over 200,000 families missing out on free food vouchers – are you eligible?
Young families are collectively missing out on more than £880,000 a week, which could be spent on food, Which? has found.
Low take-up of the Healthy Start scheme means at least £45 million a year worth of extra support for families with young children in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is not making it to those in need, despite millions struggling to put food on the table.
The NHS scheme provides extra help to pregnant women and families with young children who are both on a low income and qualifying benefits. It comes in the form of a card, which can be used to pay for healthy food such as milk, infant formula, fruit and vegetables. Those eligible can receive top-ups of £4.25 or £8.50 a week depending on the age of their child. You can also use the card to collect Healthy Start vitamins for pregnant women, and vitamin drops for babies and children up to the age of four.
But given the low take-up of the scheme, Which? is calling for the government and supermarkets to do more.
Low take-up means families missing out
Uptake of the Healthy Start scheme is just 63.9%, which is well behind the government’s target of 75% for March 2023.
By comparison, a similar scheme in Scotland has an estimated take up rate of 88%.
Which?'s £45.8m calculation is based on the lowest voucher amount of £4.25 going unclaimed each week by more than 207,000 families. In reality, though, much more will be going unclaimed, as an unknown number of those families actually qualify for double that amount at £8.50 a week.
- Find out more: how to apply for a Healthy Start card
Supermarkets must do more
Some supermarkets have previously supported the Healthy Start scheme by handing out extra vouchers, free frozen vegetables or with targeted marketing campaigns on key products such as milk.
Which? believes supermarkets should build on this by boosting awareness through promotions, well-trained staff and making it as easy as possible to use the card in stores and online.
The majority of the major retailers have faced difficulties providing top-ups for the new prepaid card scheme compared with the previous paper voucher scheme. Sainsbury’s has however still been able to commit to providing additional £2 top-ups for people eligible for Healthy Start across England, Wales and Northern Ireland in the form of vouchers.
Which? is calling on supermarkets to work with the government on the technical challenges preventing some of them from providing top-ups.
- Find out more: what's happening to supermarket food prices?
Rising food prices make vouchers worth £110 less per year
As well as low take-up, rising inflation means the scheme is worth considerably less than it was a few years ago.
By matching the foods that can be bought with Healthy Start payments to official inflation data, we estimate that the average prices of recommended Healthy Start foods have increased by 25.3% since April 2021, when the value of the scheme was last uplifted, meaning even the families who are using the scheme could be losing more than £110 a year in real terms.
Which? believes the government should be immediately uplifting the value of the scheme to take into account the high levels of food price inflation since April 2021. We also think the payment should be automatically uprated in line with inflation as with other welfare payments. For the comparable Scottish scheme, Best Start Foods, the value was uplifted by 10.1% on 1 April 2023.
In line with recommendations made by the National Food Strategy, the government should also expand eligibility to all families on Universal Credit and equivalent benefits with children under the age of five.
- Find out more: advice from Which? on surviving the cost of living crisis
Join our Affordable Food For All campaign
Which? is calling on the major supermarkets to act by providing the support people around the country desperately need in order to keep food on the table during the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Since we launched the Affordable Food For All campaign last autumn, the response of the supermarkets has been far too limited given the scale of the challenge people are facing.
Sue Davies, Which? head of consumer rights and food policy, said: 'The Healthy Start scheme has potential to help many hard-up families who are struggling with the unrelenting cost of living crisis and have had to skip meals or use food banks as a result. However, poor take-up means millions of pounds’ worth of help is going unclaimed.
'There is an important role for the government to expand the scheme and increase its value, but we're also calling on supermarkets to help customers by better promoting what is available and providing extra top-ups for those who use the scheme.
'Supermarkets also need to make it easier for all customers to work out which items offer the best value for money, by making sure their pricing is clear and easily comparable between items. Supermarkets must ensure everyone has access to basic, affordable food ranges, especially in areas where they are most needed.'
- Do you want to see your supermarket take action? Sign the petition
