Bolton families missing out on Healthy Start Scheme

The Healthy Start Scheme was designed to help support pregnant women and parents of children under four access milk, mineral, fruit and vegetables.

But according to charity Sustain, take up in Bolton has been just over 60 per cent of eligible families meaning that 1524 families are missing out.

In response, Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi said: “40 per cent of families across Bolton are not making use of the Healthy Start benefit scheme and are as a result missing out on support in the form of free fruit, vegetables, vitamins and milk for those families on low incomes.

Yasmin Qureshi MP says the benefit is a 'crucial lifeline' (Image: Office of Yasmin Qureshi MP)

“For my residents in Bolton South East this support is a lifeline which will give them and their families the best start in life.

“If you are not claiming this resource and you think you are entitled to do so, please do check and if so follow it up.”

The Healthy Start Scheme allows eligible families to apply for a card with money on it that can be used in certain shops, with benefits added to it by the government every four weeks.

The cards can then be used to by milk, fruit and vegetables, fresh, dried and tinned pulses or infant formula milk.

They can also be used to collect health start vitamins and vitamin drops for babies and young children

But in Bolton, Sustain’s findings show that around £500,000 worth of Healthy Start Scheme payments were being left unclaimed in Bolton over the last year.

Across the North West as a whole, this total rose to £9M with 28,000 families missing out.

Nationwide, just 366,268 families, coming to 64 per cent of those eligible took up the scheme.

This comes at a time when lower income families, especially those with young children, are facing crisis with food prices rising at their fastest rate in 40 years according to the Office of National Statistics.

Sustain local action coordinator Vera Zakharov said: “It is unacceptable that over 28,000 families in the North West are missing out on £9 M of free fruit, veg and milk at a time when food prices continue to soar.

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“Research shows families with young children are most at risk of food insecurity, and far too many are not even aware that they can access this support.

“The government must do all it can to promote Healthy Start properly, increase payments in line with inflation, and work toward auto-enrolment to avoid more families missing out.”

The scheme can be found by going to the Healthy Start section on the NHS’ website.