More than 250,000 young mums are missing out on £3.10-a-week fruit, veg and milk vouchers from the government.
Official figures show take-up of the ‘Healthy Start’ scheme plunged from 73 per cent in April 2015 to just 48 per cent in June 2020, the Mirror reports.
The voucher sign-up is currently at its lowest at any point in five years and things started to tail off well before the coronavirus pandemic.
In January 2020, for example, just 54 per cent of eligible parents or kids were receiving the vouchers.
A charity has criticised the failures in take-up - which comes two years after the government pledged to improve the scheme.
Conservative ministers promised a consultation on changing Healthy Start by the end of 2018, but it was delayed by the Brexit negotiations.
Applicants still have to print out a form on paper and post it off, and a digital scheme is only expected by 2021.
Feeding Britain national director Andrew Forsey told the Mirror: “Healthy Start vouchers have the potential to become such an effective tool for a Prime Minister whose mission is to improve the nation's diet.
“But hundreds of thousands of poorer children are missing out on their entitlement to millions of pounds' worth of fruit and vegetables every year.”
Launched in 2006 and designed as a “nutritional safety net”, the vouchers go to parents of under-fours on certain benefits.
They also go to pregnant women on benefits, as well as all pregnant women under 18.
The vouchers can be exchanged for fruit and vegetables, milk and baby formula - plus pulses and canned fruit and vegetables from October.
Most eligible parents receive one voucher per week, except children under one who get two vouchers per week.
But the £3.10-a-week value of the voucher hasn’t changed since 2009 despite rising food prices.
Feeding Britain claim that has deprived families of £77m - and if the vouchers had risen with inflation, as the charity demands, they would now be worth £3.80.
Figures show in June 2020, just 251,547 out of 523,627 people eligible received the vouchers - meaning 272,080 did not.
Feeding Britain has called for an automatic registration process so families opt out of receiving the vouchers, rather than opting in, by ticking a box on the Child Benefit form.
Ministers are already drawing up plans to move Healthy Start to a digital scheme from early 2021.
Currently it takes up to 14 days for paper vouchers to be sent back once an application clears government checks.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: “Healthy Start supports pregnant women and young children from lower income families to access free fruit, vegetables, milk and vitamins to support a healthy lifestyle.
“We are now developing a digital approach to modernise the Healthy Start system, making it easier for those eligible to apply for and access the vouchers.”
Who is eligible?
You must be at least 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under four years old.
You must also receive one of the following benefits:
- Income Support
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Child Tax Credit with a family income of £16,190 or less per year
- Pension Credit
- Universal Credit with 'take home pay' of £408 or less per month for the family
You also qualify if you are under 18 and pregnant, even if you don’t get any of the above benefits.
You can also get the vouchers if you're on Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, but only while pregnant and not after the baby is born.
How do you apply?
Visit the Healthy Start website. You can either print off a blank form, or fill out an online application form which you then print off at the end.
You should fill out Part A carefully in black ink using CAPITAL letters.
Part B can be left blank - it involves getting a health professional's signature. This has been suspended due to coronavirus.
Make sure all the information on the form is correct and that you have signed and dated it.
Send the form to the address below in an envelope - there's no need for a stamp:
Freepost RRTR-SYAE-JKCR
Healthy Start Issuing Unit
PO Box 1067
Warrington
WA55 1EG
What do they buy?
Milk: This must be plain cow’s milk and can be whole, semi-skimmed or skimmed. It must also be pasteurised, sterilised, long-life or ultra-heat treated (UHT).
You can’t spend your vouchers on flavoured milk, coloured milk, evaporated milk, condensed milk, goat’s milk, soya milk, powdered milk (unless it’s infant formula) or milk with anything added to it such as milkshakes or vitamin-enriched milk.
Plain fresh or frozen fruit and vegetables: This means any kind of plain fresh or frozen fruit or vegetables, whole or chopped, packaged or loose.
You can’t spend your vouchers on any fruit or vegetables which have added ingredients such as fat (oil), salt, sugar or flavourings – including oven chips and battered onion rings. You also can’t spend them on dried, canned, juiced or pre-cooked fruit and vegetables (this will change in October) or on smoothies.
Infant formula milk: This must be infant formula milk that is based on cow’s milk and says on the packaging that it can be used from birth.
Where can they be spent?
They can be used in any shop registered with the Healthy Start scheme. These include corner shops, supermarkets, market stalls, greengrocers, milk floats and pharmacies.
The Healthy Start website has a postcode finder.
