750,000 pregnant women and children still missing out on vital nutritional support scheme

Sustain member The Food Foundation has launched a new campaign to expand Healthy Start as it reveals 750,000 pregnant women and children on Universal Credit are missing out on vital support due to strict eligibility criteria.

Sustain is joining 115 other organisations to call on the Government to extend support to all pregnant people and children under 5 on Universal Credit, and close the gap of children missing out, before another generation of early years children are left behind.

The Healthy Start scheme was set up by the Labour Government twenty years ago to provide critical support to families on low incomes to afford fruit, vegetables, pulses, milk and vitamins in pregnancy and a child’s earliest years. Whilst it provides a vital lifeline for those who are eligible, two rules are currently locking out families who urgently need support.

Households on Universal Credit with pregnant women, babies and young children only qualify if they earn under £408 a month (about £4,900 a year), and support stops when a child turns four years old leaving a gap before they start school and can access Free School Meals.

The Food Foundation has revealed that this leaves 750,000 pregnant women and children from low-income households missing out. The report brings together evidence from a range of sources to show the potential benefits of increasing access to the scheme. For example, according to Sustain and Food Foundation research, expanding Healthy Start to all families on Universal Credit would deliver a return on investment of £2.36 for every £1 spent - a £7.7 billion gain over 10 years as a result of the reductions in food insecurity, increased household disposable income, and wider economic gains.

As the cost-of-living crisis continues, food is substantially more expensive than five years ago. Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices are around 39% higher than in August 2021, meaning nutritional safety nets are more important now than ever. The Healthy Start scheme, in particular, is crucial as nutrition in the first years of life shapes the brain development children rely on to succeed academically at school and give them the best start in life.

The poorest fifth of households with children would now need to spend 85% of their disposable income to afford the Government-recommended diet and nearly one in four households with a child under the age of 5 are experiencing food insecurity. Lower-income households are more likely to cut down on items such as fruit and veg when shopping on a budget. Giving support for families to provide better nutrition during early years could help to reduce obesity levels and tooth decay amongst children and reduce the long-term risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Anna Taylor, Executive Director of The Food Foundation, said:

“Good nutrition in the earliest years lays the all-important foundations for children’s health, learning and future opportunities. Yet Healthy Start is shutting out many of the families it was created to help.

The Children’s Commissioner’s stark warning this week about a childhood lottery makes action even more urgent: a child’s access to nutritious food must not depend on their postcode or on whether their parents earn just above an outdated threshold.

Free School Meals now provide a stronger safety net once children enter school; we urgently need sustained nutritional support from pregnancy to that point. Expanding Healthy Start to all families on Universal Credit and to every child under five would close this unacceptable gap and turn the Government’s wider early-years ambitions into healthier childhoods.”

Lynn Perry, Chief Executive of Barnardo’s, said:

“From their very first breath, every child deserves the best possible start in life. Yet too many parents are facing impossible choices as the cost of essentials continues to put huge pressure on family budgets.

Healthy Start payments provide vital support to help families afford nutritious food during a child’s earliest years, but too many babies and young children are currently missing out because of restrictive eligibility rules. We know that poverty and food insecurity can have lasting consequences for children’s health, wellbeing and development. That’s why we are backing this call to the government to extend Healthy Start to every pregnant woman and child under five in families receiving Universal Credit. No child should be denied a healthy start in life because of their family’s financial circumstances.”

Andrew Forsey, National Director of Feeding Britain, said:

“Across our network, we see families doing everything they can to put nutritious food on the table, yet too many are excluded from Healthy Start by rules that no longer reflect the pressures they face. Extending the scheme to all families on Universal Credit and covering children until they start school would give parents practical help before they reach crisis point. It would also strengthen the vital work of community organisations by ensuring more families have reliable support to buy healthy food, rather than having to depend on emergency provision.”