How three London boroughs used data to increase Healthy Start claims by over 5%
Tylor-Maria Johnson Published on 26th September 2024
Policy in Practice’s recent campaign to increase Healthy Start claims, funded by the Mayor of London, has helped nearly 300 families in three London boroughs to claim nearly £31,000 in unclaimed support. With over 250,000 children growing up in food insecurity in London, increasing access to this support is crucial.
Read report: How a data led approach has boosted take up of Healthy Start across three London boroughs
In the first digital campaign of its kind Policy in Practice identified and contacted over 3,000 eligible families inviting them to claim Healthy Start.
Participating boroughs saw Healthy Start claims grow by 5.4% following the campaign, compared to a 0.7% decrease in other boroughs during the same time period. This project demonstrates the power of proactive use of administrative data, setting the standard for other regional take up campaigns.
The real life impacts of the campaign on families who received the support cannot be overstated
The Healthy Start take up campaign has had a remarkable impact on our community. It has not only provided much needed financial support to hundreds of households but also enhanced the overall well-being of our residents and children. The substantial return on investment underscores the campaign’s effectiveness and importance. We are proud to be a part of this initiative and look forward to seeing continued positive outcomes.
Hameeda Saeed, Development Officer, Redbridge Council
Reducing childhood food insecurity by overriding the barriers to low Healthy Start claims
Over 250,000 children live in food insecurity in London. For context, the number of children living in households without enough food can fill up 9,400 primary school classrooms in London, or seven Premier League football stadiums.
Healthy Start was created in 2006 to help tackle child food insecurity. It provides weekly support to help pregnant women and families with children under four get fresh fruit, veg, milk and infant formula.
Households with children on low incomes and on certain benefits can get up to £440 per year for a child under one, and £220 every subsequent year until a child’s fourth birthday. Many families who claim Healthy Start are happy for extra support towards their children, even if the amounts seem small.
With food banks under immense pressure to help more families with food parcels, increasing access to this national support is more important than ever. Yet year on year low income Londoners missed out on £9.9 million in support to buy food, milk, and infant formula through the Healthy Start scheme.
Previous research by Policy in Practice shows that benefits go unclaimed because of low awareness of the scheme, the complexity of application, and stigma around engaging with the benefits system. Many people may not know that Healthy Start exists or be aware of their eligibility. Some people might know about this support, but get put off by its application form. Others may not want to engage with the benefits system altogether.
The first digital campaign to increase Healthy Start claims for Londoners
In an initiative funded by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Policy in Practice collaborated with the Greater London Authority’s Financial Hardship team and three London authorities in the first regional campaign to use data analytics to support London families experiencing food insecurity and financial hardship.
We analysed the councils’ data to identify nearly 2,900 households across the capital who were eligible for Healthy Start in Spring 2024. To raise awareness of the scheme, 2,400 letters were sent to each household informing them of their Healthy Start eligibility and the steps needed to claim this support.
Where phone numbers were provided, we also sent text messages to 2,900 eligible households four working days after the letters were sent.
At the end of each letter and text message, households had the option of completing a short survey about the process of claiming Healthy Start, by scanning a QR code or clicking a link. Once the survey was completed, households could enter a draw to win a £30 Love to Shop voucher.
Data led approach increases Healthy Start claims for Londoners by 5%
In its first year, the campaign will deliver £30,800 to 274 households. If residents continue to claim Healthy Start until their child turns four, they will receive over £106,000 in support.
The campaign in numbers:
| Outcome | |
|---|---|
| Number of participating councils | 3 |
| Number of eligible households identified | 2,974 |
| Number of letters sent | 2,367 |
| Number of text message sent | 2,891 |
| Number of feedback survey responses received | 187 |
| Number of successful claims (March to June 2024) | 274 |
| Average increase in number of HS claims made | 5.4% |
| Value of support claimed so far | £30,860 |
| Total claim value if household claims until child turns 4 | £106,150 |
Across the period of this campaign, Healthy Start claims in participating boroughs grew by 5.4% on average compared to a 0.7% decrease in other boroughs over the same period. Even in participating boroughs a traditional letter campaign that runs for 12 months, led to an 1% take up rate.
Compared to other boroughs, it is clear that sending letters and text messages helped encourage households to claim what they were eligible for. Notably, adding in text messages proved to be very effective in campaigns.
In total 41% of households who received the text message clicked the link to take them to the page to apply. Typical text message campaigns deliver conversion rates of 5%, with the average between 21% and 32%.
For every £1 spent on the text and letter campaign, £11 in income was generated for Londoners.
Delivering support that helps families put food on the table
The survey demonstrated the impact of the messages on households. 42% of households surveyed shared that they applied to Healthy Start or are about to apply because of our messages. The number one reason why households had not applied previously was because of low awareness.
Residents had positive experiences receiving the letter and text messages about Healthy Start. In the feedback survey, they shared the following with us:
I’m so blessed to get Healthy Start, it’s a big help to buy my baby’s food. It’s like £14 a tin. Healthy Start vouchers mean I get to keep my baby on his tinned milk for longer. Many thanks to Healthy Start for helping me.
I didn’t know there was something like that until I received a letter from my council. I’ve two kids and have never applied for this.
This campaign demonstrates what can be achieved when local authorities collaborate. Participating authorities, coming together under the GLA banner have delivered life changing support that helps families to put food on the table, maximising economies of scale and making the most effective use of scarce resources.
A successful data led approach that can be adopted elsewhere
The success of this campaign can be replicated and scaled across other regions and other benefits. With £23 billion of benefits and support unclaimed each year much more can be done to connect millions of people to the support they are missing out on.
Policy in Practice works with over one in five local authorities across the UK, supporting them to run locally led, data driven, targeted campaigns to support their residents to build their financial strength.
These campaigns have high success rates and returns on investment, putting millions of pounds into people’s pockets. Their success is largely due to the sophisticated targeting of resources to the relevant households and the local knowledge that local authorities bring to the campaigns.
Policy in Practice works with administrative data to identify people missing out on support, including Pension Credit, Attendance Allowance, Free School Meals, Healthy Start, Universal Credit, social tariffs and Council Tax Support. This information is available at a local authority level.
To learn more about Policy in Practice’s work with local authorities, how much support is unclaimed in your area and how you can run take up campaigns please contact us via hello@policyinpractice.co.uk.
