The Healthier, Wealthier Children (HWC) project

Launched in November 2010, Healthier, Wealthier Children (HWC) is a partnership approach to tackle child poverty across NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC). The project aimed to develop new ways of providing money/welfare advice services to help pregnant women and families with children at risk of, or experiencing, poverty. This involved setting up referral links between health and advice services with a view towards embedding this child poverty partnership response into service delivery.

Between 2010 and 2013, the GCPH undertook a range of work to support the project including a literature review, a comprehensive evaluation report and a follow-up evaluation report with a focus on sustainability. A later review of the project in 2018 found that referral pathways were embedded into wider money advice work and structures with varying levels of funding and staff support.  

A GCPH consultation response to the Scottish Government’s Child Poverty Delivery Plan (2022-2026) welcomed the additional £500,000 national funding for the HWC initiative and measures to tackle child poverty, in particular the new Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods payments to help towards the costs of being pregnant or looking after a child.  

In 2023, the HWC project continues to operate across NHSGCC within a very difficult landscape that has been shaped by austerity, COVID-19, the cost-of-living crisis, and rising child poverty rates. Since 2010, there have been over 45,000 referrals to money advice services, which has led to families receiving an average annual income boost of between £1,000 and £3,000. Many priority groups have benefitted from this type of support and family case studies gathered over the years show how it can dramatically reduce stress levels by helping to increase household income and manage debts.  

The project continues to evolve within NHSGGC and has led to innovative services, such as the Special Needs in Pregnancy Service. For many families managing stretched budgets, antenatal and community child health services will remain a first point of contact. It remains important that they continue to have equal access to such timely support, in turn bolstering collaborative efforts to ensure that all children have the best start and bright futures.