// Iceland extends free frozen veg withy Health Start vouchers to cover the summer holidays
// The free £1 veg offer has been a lifeline for thousands of families since its launch in September last year
// Iceland launched the offer in response to the Child Poverty Task Force recommendations by Marcus Rashford
Iceland has extended its giveaway of frozen veg to customers using Healthy Start Vouchers in its stores across England, Wales and Northern Ireland until the end of August.
The free frozen veg, worth £1 for every Healthy Start voucher used in store, will boost the value of the vouchers to ensure families have easy access to value nutritious food right up until the end of the summer holidays.
In Scotland, families will receive the same offer of free frozen veg each time they spend £4.25 or more on a Best Start Foods card.
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Iceland said the offer has been a lifeline for thousands of families since its launch in September last year.
It was also launched in response to the Child Poverty Task Force policy recommendations set out by Manchester United star Marcus Rashford, which included a call to increase the value of the vouchers.
“Long-term change comes from collaboration and every single one of us stepping up to play a role, big or small,” Rashford said.
“I’m proud of what the Taskforce has achieved in this space collectively and I’m thrilled to see Iceland continue such a vital commitment to the cause with the extension of the Healthy Start voucher top up.”
Customers can choose from 25 varieties of frozen veg and can redeem the offer every time they use a Healthy Start Voucher or each time they spend at least £4.25 on a Best Start Foods card in store.
Frozen veg offers the nutritional value of fresh veg but also helps to reduce waste and lasts longer, helping families manage their budgets while ensuring they have healthy food to hand.
Iceland said it would report its findings and learnings back to the Food Foundation, which is working to support the implementation of the National Food Strategy recommendations.
The retailer will also feed these learnings back to UK Government to inform the future design of the scheme.
Iceland hopes this will help to make a case for extending entitlement to the voucher to more families.
“As a proud member of Marcus Rashford’s Child Food Poverty Taskforce, we are working with the Food Foundation and the government to further support families by raising awareness of the Healthy Start and Best Start Foods schemes in our stores,” Iceland managing director Richard Walker said.
“We understand the continued pressing need to help from our interactions with millions of customers each week.
“At Iceland we have a long history of supporting our local communities and offering great quality, low cost food to help families across the country.
“We will continue to review our commitment to ensure we are able to support Marcus’ campaign to the fullest possible extent.”
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