Almost 220,00 people are failing to claim free vouchers that would get them food and baby milk every week, according to a new report.
The amount of unclaimed vouchers is worth around £1million every week, says The Mirror.
The proportion of eligible households claiming Healthy Start coupons fell from 65% in November to 51.5% in December, according to analysis by Feeding Britain.
Healthy Start coupons are available to pregnant women and parents with a child under four - and provides £4.25 to buy milk and basic food.
Parents with children under a year old can get double vouchers.
But research shows that of 449,748 potential claimants, just 231,746 are enrolled on the scheme - with at least £926,508.50 of vouchers going unclaimed every week.
Because some of the unclaimed coupons will be for youngsters aged under one year - whose parents are entitled to two a week - Feeding Britain believes the weekly unclaimed value is at least £1m.
National director Andrew Forsey said: “At a time when hard-pressed families need every bit of help they can get, it's appalling to see from these data just how many are now falling through the holes in the safety net.
“Those holes could be fixed at a stroke if the Prime Minister shifted the basis of Healthy Start from 'opt in', to 'opt out' - thereby helping those families stretch their budgets further each week.
“With automatic registration rightly deemed fair and just for some schemes, why not extend it to this one too?”
Claimants are eligible if they are at least 10 weeks pregnant or have at least one child under four-years-old and receive any of a series of welfare benefits, including Child Tax Credit, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Pension Credit, or Universal Credit - if the family earns £408 or less a month.
Those who qualify are sent coupons they can redeem in more than 30,000 shops.
How to apply for Healthy Start
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.
You can’t spend your vouchers on infant formulas that are not based on cow’s milk – such as soya formulas and goat’s milk formulas – or on any follow-on formulas that say on the packaging that they are for babies aged six months or older.
Where can they be spent?
In any shop that is registered to take part in the Healthy Start scheme. These include corner shops, supermarkets, market stalls, greengrocers, milk floats and pharmacies.
The Healthy Start website has a postcode finder.
