Families missing out on NHS money for healthy food
Figures show as few as 64% of eligible families are claiming NHS money to buy milk, fruit and veg.
Families missing out on NHS money for healthy food
NHS funding is available to help families on the lowest incomes with young children pay for healthy food and milk.
Charities say thousands of low-income families are failing to claim money they are entitled to use for fresh fruit, vegetables and milk.
Families earning under £400 a week can receive weekly NHS Healthy Start payments, including pregnant women and those with children under four, who are eligible for £4.65 a week.
Figures show uptake of the scheme is as low as 64% in some parts of the North East and Cumbria.
Newcastle-based charity Feeding Britain said rising food prices meant "every layer of protection possible" was needed for families on the lowest incomes. The government has been approached for comment.
Amelia, from Sunderland, has a two-year-old son and does not qualify for the scheme, but said she understood the difficulties families are facing.
"It's expensive to feed the whole family. It's getting ridiculous really. It's not just food, it's the nappies and wipes and days out."
She said she tries to batch cook to save money and eat the same meals as her son.
Amy, a working mother with a toddler, said: "He was on formula and it was expensive for the tins. They never had offers or promotions."
She said she often eats less so her son can have more food.
Amelia from Sunderland said food prices were "ridiculous"
Families with a baby under 12 months old can claim £9.30 a week through the NHS Healthy Start scheme.
However, figures indicate that thousands of eligible families have not signed up.
The latest NHS figures on uptake are from 2022.
Redcar and Cleveland Council recorded the highest enrolment, with 87% of entitled families claiming the weekly payments.
In the former Eden Council area, only 64% of those eligible were enrolled, while in the former Copeland Council area uptake was 68%.
In Sunderland and Stockton, 81% of eligible families were enrolled.
Uptake was lower in Newcastle and Middlesbrough, where just 77% of those entitled to payments received them.
Across the region, that meant 6,149 eligible families were missing out.
Penny Walters works for the charity Feeding Britain and said the value of the healthy start scheme was "worthless"
Penny Walters works for Feeding Britain, which supports some of the most deprived families in the North East.
She said Healthy Start payments were not rising in line with inflation.
"£4.65 - what can you buy with that?" she said.
"If you've got a baby you get £9.30 and you can buy one tin of formula with that.
"But how many tins have you got to go through a week with a baby? It's worthless."
She said professionals were still seeing severe poverty in the region, including a malnourished baby admitted to hospital in Newcastle.
"The only thing the mam could afford to give the baby was sugar water," she said.
"That's not right. We're not in Dickensian England. Where was the support? Why is this happening?"
Director of Feeding Britain, Andrew Forsey, wants the Healthy Start scheme to have an auto-enrollment system
Several national charities are urging updates to the Healthy Start scheme, including Sustain, The Food Foundation and Feeding Britain.
Newcastle-based Feeding Britain director Andrew Forsey said: "Given the increases in food prices that are coming our way in the months ahead we need every layer of protection possible for families on the lowest incomes."
He said the government should turn Healthy Start into an auto-enrollment scheme for eligible families.
"The government can use the data and the technology at its disposal to register parents automatically, just to lift some of the burden off parents' shoulders," he said.
Labour MP for South Shields, Emma Lewell, said she had been campaigning to ensure the allocated money does not go back to the Treasury if it is unclaimed.
"It just feels like such a no brainer," she said.
"The money is there, the government have it, it's not going to the people who need it and there's things we can do to make sure it does, but they're not being done.
"I'm really frustrated."
Charities are also urging the Department for Health and Social Care to publish updated figures on scheme enrolment.
The NHS stopped releasing data in January 2023 after an inaccuracy was found, and this has still not been fixed.
That means charities and local authorities cannot monitor who may be missing out.
The department has been approached for comment.