More than a thousand families in Portsmouth and Hampshire missing out on government Healthy Start food voucher scheme

New figures reveal that 155,000 eligible families across the UK are eligible but not opting-in to the government’s Healthy Start scheme run across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In Portsmouth, a total of 525 families are missing out on the vouchers, while 219 families are missing out in Havant, 169 in Gosport, and 114 in Fareham.

The vouchers are for pregnant women or families with under-fours who get certain benefits, helping them to buy fruit, vegetables, milk and infant formula.

The benefit is worth up to £36.96 per month per child through a prepaid card to use in stores – although older children and pregnant women get a bit less.

NHS data shows almost a third of the more than half a million households eligible for the scheme were not claiming the support in March, as the cost of living crisis began to take hold in the UK.

It comes as consumers face soaring food prices, with inflation hitting a record high – with demand for support increasing across the city, according to Father Bob White, the vicar of St Mary’s Church in Fratton and chairman of the HIVE community support group.

Father Bob said: ‘Quite a lot of local schools are aware of the scheme, so have a chat to the school, and certainly call the HIVE help desk and they can signpost people on from there.

‘It may be one thing they have a conversation about, but they can access other resources.’

The charity Feeding Britain is campaigning for the Healthy Start scheme to be switched to an opt-out rather than opt-in basis, to ensure the support gets to as many families as possible.

A Department for Health and Social Care spokeswoman said applicants must agree to the terms and conditions of the scheme, which makes automatic enrollment impossible.

She said: ‘The introduction of an online application and pre-paid card for the Healthy Start scheme has led to over 125,000 new successful applications from people who did not benefit from the scheme’s previous paper vouchers.’