Healthy Start Vouchers – a lifeline for those in need

Healthy Start Vouchers – a lifeline for those in need: Written by Mandy Mackereth & Tanya Zhylova

Amongst the many barriers to health faced by refugees and migrants, one of the most damaging is a lack of knowledge of available provision. One important piece of provision is the Healthy Start scheme, which entitles eligible women more than 10 weeks pregnant, and children under 4, to get help to buy specified healthy food and milk, as well as free vitamins.

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We all know how important a healthy start in life is, potentially affecting a person’s experience for their whole life course, but this provision could be particularly important for migrant families whose children are experiencing multiple disadvantages and may be more vulnerable to vitamin and nutritional deficiencies. However, many who are eligible do not know about the scheme. RMC staff are passionate about increasing our client’s opportunities to access healthy food, so aim to enable eligible families to access Healthy Start Vouchers.

If you know someone that needs to apply for Healthy Start Vouchers, they can apply here

Amy’s Story

Amy (name changed) has recently been granted leave to remain in the UK as a refugee and has two children, ages 2 years, and 3 months. Amy is in receipt of Universal Credit, and came to RMC for help to apply for Child Benefit, Amy was not currently working due to having such a young child. Whilst being supported with this, she was asked if she was receiving Healthy Start vouchers but she had not heard of the scheme. Amy did not have the language or digital skills to complete the brief application herself, so was supported to do so by the RMC advisor, who also carefully explained the scheme to her in which she would receive a card with a monthly top-up of £51.00 to spend on healthy food for the two children, and free vitamins for both the children and herself.

Potential extension of the scheme

A recent government consultation sought views on whether the scheme should be extended to include those who are prevented from accessing public funds due to immigration controls. This extension would be something that RMC wholeheartedly supports, and we have not only responded to the consultation ourselves, but have supported a number of our affected clients to do so also.