News from Dr Fiona Twycross (past staff): 47% of London households missing out on vital Healthy Start vouchers

Almost half of eligible London households

missing out on vital Healthy Start vouchers

47% of eligible households in the capital are missing out on Healthy Start vouchers, according to new data obtained from the NHS Business Services Authority. This means-tested voucher scheme, introduced by the Government in 2006, is aimed at helping low-income families with the costs of essentials such fruit, vegetables, milk and infant formula. Labour’s London Assembly Food Spokesperson, Fiona Twycross AM, has accused the Government of shirking their responsibility when it comes to promoting and investing in the scheme, calling for more “robust interventions” to ensure a higher uptake of the vouchers amongst households and retailers.

Currently, pregnant women on a low income, or under the age of 18, and children aged 1-4 in households receiving certain social security benefits are all eligible for one £3.10 Healthy Start voucher per week. Children under one year old are entitled to two £3.10 vouchers each week.

The latest data shows that across London, 36,375 households are accessing the scheme, as of May 2019. Sutton has the lowest take-up rate of all London boroughs with only 35% of households engaging with the programme.

These figures come against the backdrop of a report published by the First Steps Nutrition Trust which estimates that the annual Government spend on Healthy Start Vouchers in the UK almost halved between 2011 and 2018.

The report also highlights that between 2014 and 2017, the contract to administer the Healthy Start scheme was awarded to Serco and valued at £12,106,732- totalling over a quarter of the estimated amount spent on the scheme by the Government during 2018. The contract with Serco was subsequently renewed after 2017 and the Department of Health and Social Care have now confirmed that it has been extended to 31^st March 2020.

According to the report, during the period of the first contract, between 2014-2017, national voucher uptake rates fell from 76% to 67%.

Alongside declining Government investment, the First Steps Nutrition Trust has also highlighted issues such as the complexity of the application process and the lack of promotion and awareness surrounding the scheme.

The food and farming charity, Sustain, has outlined a series of measures that can be taken to improve the uptake of Healthy Start vouchers. These include the more effective promotion of the scheme by advice services and in appropriate settings such as GP surgeries and children’s centres, and its more widespread adoption by local food retailers- a call recently reinforced by the Association of Convenience Stores.

Calls have been made in Parliament for the Government to increase the value of the voucher, which has not been updated since 2009, to reflect rising food costs.

In the London Food Strategy, published in December 2018, the Mayor of London has pledged to work alongside relevant partners to boost the uptake of Healthy Start vouchers to 80 per cent of eligibility as well as encouraging more retailers, such as markets and convenience stores, to accept the vouchers.

The latest Trussell Trust data shows that 166,512 three-day emergency food parcels were handed out across the capital between April 2018 and March 2019, with 59,772 of these going to children.

The Mayor’s recently published ‘Survey of Londoners’ also revealed that around one in five of all respondents reported struggling to afford or access enough food, with one in six parents in the capital having children facing low or very low food security.

Labour’s London Assembly Food Spokesperson, Fiona Twycross AM, said:

“With food insecurity on the rise and affecting one in five Londoners, it is extremely concerning to see such a significant deficit in the number of eligible families signing-up to the Healthy Start voucher scheme.

“The Government have shirked their responsibility when it comes to promoting the scheme, draining it of the investment it needs and renewing their contract with Serco despite their clear failure to deliver.

“This is a vital programme that ensures some of the most vulnerable children have access to basic nutrition, but it is staggering that the Government have been unable to update the value of the voucher over the last decade to keep up with the burgeoning costs of living.

“From City Hall, the Mayor has underlined the importance of these vouchers in the fight against childhood obesity and malnutrition in his London Food Strategy. We now need to see more robust interventions from the Government to incentivise a higher uptake of the scheme by eligible households and local retailers”.

ENDS