Home / Health / Sainsbury's £3 Weekly Boost for Healthy Start Families
Sainsbury's £3 Weekly Boost for Healthy Start Families
22 Oct
Summary
- Families get £3 eGift card weekly for six weeks starting November 18.
- Eligibility requires using NHS Healthy Start and Nectar cards together.
- Previous trials showed a significant increase in fruit and vegetable purchases.
Starting November 18, Sainsbury's will provide a £3 eGift card weekly to eligible customers for six weeks. This offer is aimed at families enrolled in the NHS Healthy Start scheme, designed to assist low-income households with purchasing healthy food.
To qualify for this support, individuals must have used both the NHS Healthy Start Mastercard and a Nectar card together in a transaction within the last year. Applications must be submitted by November 9, with eGift cards being emailed out weekly from November 18.
A previous trial of this top-up scheme in 2021, before the transition to prepaid cards, saw a considerable impact. Analysis indicated that customers redeeming a top-up coupon purchased an average of 13 more portions of fruit and vegetables per basket compared to those who did not.
Sainsbury's stated this initiative aligns with their goal to increase fibre and portions of fruit and vegetables in UK diets. They have also introduced new Full on Fibre labelling and continue to focus on affordable pricing. Nilani Srithran, Sainsbury's head of healthy and sustainable diets, highlighted the previous trial's success in improving shopping habits.
Dame Diana Johnson, Minister of State for Public Health and Patient Safety, expressed her delight at Sainsbury's reintroduction of this support and encouraged other retailers to follow suit. Anna Taylor, executive director at The Food Foundation, praised Sainsbury's generous top-up and hoped for wider industry support for the scheme.
