New parents in Renfrewshire are being encouraged to check their eligibility for free money to help with food, after thousands of pounds worth goes unclaimed.
Social Security Scotland (SSS) says families are missing out on the benefits of the Best Start Food programme, which helps with the cost of buying healthy food and milk when they are pregnant or have a child under the age of three.
The payment, which replaced the UK Healthy Start Voucher in 2019, is delivered via a prepaid card and is topped up with up to £36 for each eligible child every four weeks.
But SSS worries the message isn’t getting through to people, saying that since launching in 2019, more than 7,000 of the issued cards have never been activated and over 3,000 have been activated but never used.
To tackle the problem, SSS has written to parents, urging them to look for their cards and is encouraging them to check their balances online, at a cash machine or by calling the card issuer allpay.
Allpay is also writing to a larger group of card holders informing them of their unspent balances.
And Renfrewshire Foodbank reiterated that call.
Senior manager Crystal Clayton said: “We would advise people to get in touch with Social Security Scotland to check their eligibility for the Best Start Programme to make sure they’re not missing out on any support they are entitled to.
“And anybody who’s already got them to check their balances and make sure they’re getting the most out of this programme.
“ We obviously support any initiative that puts more money in the pockets of those who need it, so to anybody who thinks they might have received a card already, check it, and use the funds that you’re entitled to.”
Recent figures from allpay show the number of people who have received a card but not activated it is 7,039.
The number of people who have activated their cards but not spent any money is 3,260.
The Best Start Foods cash can be used in shops or online to buy healthy food, such as, cow’s milk, first infant formula milk, fruit and vegetables, pulses and eggs.
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