Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of families are eligible to participate in the Healthy Start scheme.

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operates the Healthy Start Scheme on behalf of the Department. Monthly figures for the number of people on the digital Healthy Start Scheme and the latest uptake figures, where data is available, are published on the NHS Healthy Start website, at the following link:

https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/

This data is based on individual people and is not the same as the number of families or households as there could be multiple beneficiaries living within one household. In September 2025, Healthy Start supported over 356,000 people.

The latest uptake figures, where data is available, are from March 2022. These figures represent the uptake across both the paper based and digital scheme. The paper based scheme closed at the end of March 2022.

Due to an issue that was identified with the source data that is used to calculate the uptake of the Healthy Start Scheme, the uptake percentage is not currently being published. Officials from the Department of Health and Social Care continue to work with the Department for Work and Pensions and the NHSBSA to resolve this issue. The issue has only affected the data on the number of people eligible for the scheme. It has not prevented anyone from joining the scheme or continuing to access the scheme if they were eligible.