START DATE AND DURATION: September 2024 - August 2027
Summary
Children growing up in poverty experience poorer health and reduced life opportunities.
Complex benefit systems and lack of free time mean many families are not claiming benefits they are entitled to. Each year £23bn goes unclaimed in welfare benefits across the UK.
The Healthier Wealthier Families approach involves co-locating welfare benefit advice (WBA) and health services in trusted locations, for new parents.
Previous work has shown the HWF approach can have positive financial impact and potentially alleviate stress and financial anxiety.
Our study (work packages WP1 and WP2) aims to investigate the effectiveness, acceptability, feasibility, and long-term economic benefits of the HWF approach for families in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets a community with high deprivation and ethnic diversity. The evaluation will triangulated evidence from a randomised controlled trial, a process evaluation and an economic simulation model. WP3, will co-produce a HWF toolkit to improve engagement with marginalised mothers and WP4 will spread the learning from WP1-3 to local, regional, national and international audiences via multiple pathways.
This comprehensive evaluation aims to inform scalable policy and practice changes to reduce child poverty and improve family wellbeing.