Image caption, NHS money is available to help families on the lowest incomes with young children to pay for healthy food and milk ByHelen RichardsonPolitical Reporter, North East and Cumbria Published 2 minutes ago Charities are warning that thousands of low income families are missing out on money they are eligible to claim to buy fresh fruit, vegetables, and milk.

Families earning less than £400 a week are entitled to weekly NHS Health Start payments including pregnant women and those with children under four years old who are entitled to £4.65 a week.

Figures found take-up of the scheme is as low as 64% in some parts of the North East and Cumbria.

Newcastle-based charity Feeding Britain said hikes in food prices meant "every layer of protection possible" was needed for families on the lowest incomes.

The government has been approached for comment.

Amelia, from Sunderland, has a two-year-old son and does not qualify for the scheme, but said she understood the struggle families face.

"It's expensive to feed the whole family.

It's getting ridiculous really.

It's not just food, it's the nappies and wipes and days out." She said she tries to batch cook to save money and eat the same meals as her son.

Amy, a working mother with a toddler, said: "He was on formula and it was expensive for the tins.

They never had offers or promotions." She said she often eats less so her son can have more food.

Image caption, Amelia from Sunderland said food prices were "ridiculous" Families with a baby under 12 months old can claim £9.30 a week as part of the NHS Health Start scheme.

However, figures suggest thousands of eligible families have not enrolled.

The latest NHS figures on the take-up are from 2022.

Redcar and Cleveland Council had the highest enrolment - 87% of entitled families were claiming the weekly payments.

In the former Eden Council area, only 64% of those eligible were enrolled and in the former Copeland Council area, take-up was 68%.

In Sunderland and Stockton, 81% of eligible families were enrolled.

Take-up was lower in Newcastle and Middlesbrough, where just 77% of those entitled to payments received them.

Across the region that meant 6,149 eligible families were missing out.

Image caption, Penny Walters works for the charity Feeding Britain and said the value of the healthy start scheme was "worthless" Penny Walters works for Feeding Britain which supports some of the most deprived families in the North East.

She said Healthy Start payments were not increasing in line with inflation.

"£4.65 - what can you buy with that?" she said.

"If you've got a baby you get £9.30 and you can buy one tin of formula with that.

"But how many tins have you got to go through a week with a baby?

It's worthless." She said professionals were still finding stark levels of poverty in the region, including a malnourished baby admitted to hospital in Newcastle.

"The only thing the mam could afford to give the baby was sugar water," she said.

"That's not right.

We're not in Dickensian England.

Where was the support?

Why is this happening?" Image caption, Director of Feeding Britain, Andrew Forsey, wants the Healthy Start scheme to have an auto-enrollment system Several national charities are calling for the Healthy Start scheme to be updated, including Sustain, The Food Foundation, and Feeding Britain.

Newcastle-based Feeding Britain director Andrew Forsey said: "Given the increases in food prices that are coming our way in the months ahead we need every layer of protection possible for families on the lowest incomes." He said the government should make Healthy Start an auto-enrollment scheme for eligible families.

"The government can use the data and the technology at its disposal to register parents automatically, just to lift some of the burden off parents' shoulders," he said.

Labour MP for South Shields, Emma Lewell, said she had been campaigning to try and ensure the allocated money does not return to the Treasury if unclaimed.

"It just feels like such a no brainer," she said.

"The money is there, the government have it, it's not going to the people who need it and there's things we can do to make sure it does, but they're not being done.

"I'm really frustrated." Charities are also calling on the Department for Health and Social Care to release updated figures on enrollment on the scheme.

The NHS stopped publishing data in January 2023 due to an inaccuracy that was discovered and this has not since been rectified.

It means charities and local authorities cannot track who might be missing out.

The department has been approached for comment.

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