In March 2021 the Government announced it was going to provide £100m in funding to help people lose weight. Around 70% of the funding was going towards digital apps, weight management groups or individual coaches with the remaining 30% being used on initiatives to help people maintain a healthy weight.
Commenting on the news, a spokesperson for the Obesity Health Alliance said: “Removing funding from weight management services is a concerning backtrack from Government. The scale of the obesity challenge facing the UK is significant, and we need a response to match. Weight management services play a crucial role in this response.
“The services created by the initial funding announcement have only just got off the ground, and they are already being cut. This is unfortunately another case of ‘short-termism’, where services that deliver long-term benefits are sacrificed for short-term savings. This is extremely short-sighted. Removing support from people will undermine the Government’s stated commitment to address health inequalities.”
The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) figures for the 2020-2021 school year revealed a 4.5 percentage point increase in the proportion of children who were obese. In reception classes, the proportion of children aged four and five who were obese jumped from 9.9% in the 2019-20 school year to 14.4% in 2020-21.
There was a similar rise among Year Six pupils, those aged ten and 11, from 21% to 25.5%. The increases are the biggest annual rise since the programme began in 2005 and presage a corresponding rise in all the health problems associated with being overweight – heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer.
Food Active is a programme advocating for action to promote healthy weight, regionally & nationally. After hearing the news they commented on Twitter: “Really disappointing to see this funding scrapped, which provided useful resource and capacity to address obesity locally via T2 weight management programmes. Providing accessible services for those living with obesity is vital if we are to face any chance to reducing obesity.”