TV chef: Child poverty strategy must include healthy start scheme improvements

Well-known chef Tom Kerridge is among campaigners calling on the Government to do more to tackle food insecurity as part of its upcoming child poverty strategy.

A scheme to help families with young children buy healthy food is falling short and needs reform to take in more people in need, the campaigners said in a letter.

The healthy start scheme currently applies across England, Wales and Northern Ireland to someone who is more than 10 weeks pregnant, or has a child under the age of four and is claiming certain benefits.

It enables them to buy healthy foods like milk or fruit and get free vitamins.

The Government’s child poverty taskforce, which is working closely with the devolved governments, will publish its strategy in the spring.

The letter has been signed by various representatives of charities and medical bodies, and addressed to the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall.

It said the healthy start scheme has been “much neglected in recent years” and needs “urgent improvements” to “give children the best possible start in life”.

The letter, co-ordinated by The Food Foundation, urged the Government to expand eligibility to include all families on universal credit and extend the age-eligibility to include children under five; boost the value of the allowance under the scheme in line with inflation; and bring in auto-enrolment so that it is “opt-out” rather than the current “opt-in” system, which campaigners said can be a barrier for families in applying.

They said: “Through weekly payments for food and multivitamin supplements, the scheme has huge potential to help families at risk of food insecurity.

“Sadly however, the scheme has been much neglected in recent years. Urgent improvements are therefore needed to prevent malnutrition and give children the best possible start in life.”

The Food Foundation said its own research last year had found food insecurity – when people do not have enough money for sufficient amounts or quality of food, or the worry that this may happen in the future – was experienced by almost a fifth (18.0%) of UK households with children, compared with 11.7% of households without children.

Mr Kerridge, a signatory to the letter, said: “It is unacceptable that in a country like the UK we still have such a high number of households with children suffering from food insecurity.

“We know how important it is for children to eat properly so they can grow up and thrive.

“The Government’s healthy start scheme has the potential to help but is currently not reaching the people who need it most. Improvements to the scheme need to be urgently included in the Government’s upcoming Child Poverty Strategy.”