The time is now to fix #HealthyStart

The government must act now to fix Healthy Start and ensure that no one is left behind. We can’t afford for the new digital system to fail like the vouchers did in 2021, with only 54% uptake and families missing out on almost £70 million. The digitisation of the Healthy Start scheme needs to be improved to avoid potentially hundreds of thousands of families continuing miss out on much needed support.

Throughout 2021, the number of people experiencing food insecurity continued to rise across the UK. Two million children now live in households with no access to a healthy and affordable diet. Those on Universal Credit are much more likely to go hungry than others. And the cost of living crisis continues to deepen. The time is now to fix Healthy Start.

Follow this link to see levels of uptake in 2021 — it is critical that these numbers are improved on: https://www.sustainweb.org/foodpoverty/cash_shortfall_local_map/

We have signed an open letter to Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care: https://www.sustainweb.org/assets/220310-hs-digital-joint-letter-march-2022-final-Mar22.pdf