One of the areas explored in the report is the role of national schemes in providing children with a ‘nutritional safety net’, including Healthy Start. The scheme provides vitamins and vouchers to some parents of young children to help buy healthy foods. The vouchers – which are accepted by around a third of convenience stores – can be exchanged for milk, fruit or vegetables, and (depending on the age of the child) are worth either £6.20 or £3.10 per week.
The report makes a number of recommendations to government in relation to the Healthy Start scheme:
- Extend entitlement to all pregnant women and children under the age of four years who are living in households in receipt of Universal Credit or equivalent benefits
- Increase the value of the voucher from £3.10 to £4.25 and thereafter index-link the voucher value
- Develop a national communications programme to drive engagement and uptake to support recipients to maximise the nutritional impact of their vouchers.
ACS chief executive, James Lowman, said: “We are committing to growing the number of stores accepting Healthy Start vouchers, and to adding value to the vouchers through more promotions and incentives.”
ACS has produced a short animation for retailers, making it easier to get involved with the Healthy Start programme, which is available here.