Sustain • Food Poverty • Taking local action • Improve uptake of Healthy Start and Best Start schemes
Healthy Start map: Estimated loss to families in 2024
In April 2024, on average only 62.4% of entitled beneficiaries were receiving Healthy Start payments. The Healthy Start Scheme helps eligible pregnant women and parents of young children buy fruit, vegetables, pulses, milk, first infant formula and vitamins. Infants under the age of 1 are entitled to a weekly payment of £8.50, while pregnant women and children under 4 are entitled to £4.25. More information on the Healthy Start Scheme and how to apply can be found here.
As a result of low uptake due to lack of awareness of eligibility, more than 220,000 beneficiaries* in England, Northern Ireland and Wales are missing out on this much-needed scheme - a huge loss to families struggling to cover the enduringly high cost of living.
In our Healthy Start Map we highlight the estimated value of unclaimed payments** in each Local Authority, as well as the average take up in each area as of April 2024.
Scotland’s Best Start Foods Grant, which is run separately by the Scottish Government, has a 92% uptake rate. Payments are also higher at £5.30 per week for pregnant mothers and children aged 1 to 4, and £10.60 per week for infants under 1.
Together with the Food Foundation and other organisations advocating improvements to the Healthy Start Scheme, Sustain is calling on Government policy-makers to:
- move toward auto-enrolment onto the scheme to ensure all eligible families benefit
- increase the value of Healthy Start payments in line with inflation
- expand eligibility to all families on Universal Credit, to mirror the Best Start Foods Scheme
- expand eligibility to all families with young children with No Recourse to Public Funds who are on very low incomes.
Share
> £500,000 shortfall
£400,000 - £500,000
£300,000 - £400,000
£200,000 - £300,000
£100,000 - £200,000
£0 - £100,000
No data
> 70% take up
65% - 70%
60% - 65%
55% - 60%
0% - 55%
No data
|
Estimated cash shortfall in 2024 |
|
|---|---|
| East Midlands | £4,364,913 |
| East of England | £5,346,810 |
| London | £9,984,530 |
| North East | £2,478,019 |
| North West | £7,853,077 |
| South East | £6,915,908 |
| South West | £3,897,506 |
| West Midlands | £6,454,516 |
| Yorkshire & Humber | £5,354,656 |
| England | £52,649,936 |
| Belfast Health Trust | £566,277 |
| Northern Health Trust | £593,741 |
| South Eastern Health Trust | £437,328 |
| Southern Health Trust | £554,507 |
| Western Health Trust | £450,406 |
| Northern Ireland | £2,602,260 |
| Wales | £2,662,158 |
| England, Northern Ireland and Wales | £57,914,354 |
*A beneficiary is an individual who the benefit is meant for (the infant, child under 4 or pregnant person).
**Average take up of Healthy Start payments per Local Authority is published by NHS Business Services Authority. Cash shortfall is estimated by multiplying the number of individual beneficiaries missing out by the average weekly payment for March 2023, provided to Sustain by NHS BSA, by 52 weeks for an annual estimate.
