The Food Foundation is calling on ministers to do more to raise awareness of the Healthy Start scheme and increase its value and eligibility, after it failed to meet the Government’s own target for take-up among low-income families.
Just over six in ten families eligible for Healthy Start – part of the UK Government’s benefits scheme targeted at families with children under the age of four and pregnant women – currently use it, according to the latest official figures.
NHS BSA, which operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), has missed its target of 75 per cent uptake for Healthy Start, with just 64 per cent of eligible parents and carers on average accessing the scheme across England, Wales and Northern Ireland (NHS Digital, 31 March 2023).
The figures show that 334,063 beneficiaries were taking up the Healthy Start scheme as of the end of March, out of 521,662 that are eligible for it.
