Total expenditure on Healthy Start across the United Kingdom between April 2007 and March 2008 (the only financial year for which specific figures are available) was approximately £94 million. This figure does not reflect the full cost of all Healthy Start vouchers issued in that year because retailers have up to six months from the use by date on vouchers to claim payment for them.
The following table shows the estimated number of families supported by Healthy Start in each national health service region in England between 4 August 2008 and 31 August 2008. It also shows the number of individual women and children receiving vouchers in these families.
Region Families Individuals East Midlands 25,713 32,828 East of England 27,334 34,276 London 73,900 93,168 North East 21,208 26,320 North West 51,075 64,206 South East 36,984 46,395 South West 23,402 29,544 West Midlands 42,320 54,281 Yorkshire and the Humber 35,658 45,110 England total 337,594 426,128 Note: These figures were provided by the Healthy Start Issuing Unit. Most families will have been supported throughout the whole four-week period, but some will have joined or left the scheme part way through. 16,000 families (19,000 individuals) across the UK who were receiving vouchers during this time could not be matched to a specific country or NHS region using the NHS postcode directory and so are not reflected in this table.
On 23 July 2008, the Healthy Start registered retailer database contained 76 individual retail outlets in Barnsley, 173 in Doncaster, and approximately 720 in South Yorkshire. Around 24,500 individual outlets accept vouchers across England as a whole.