Cheshire East Council is to continue a scheme which sees family members of pregnant women being paid in vouchers to stop smoking, writes Belinda Ryan.
In 2022, the council’s adults and health committee approved a financial incentive scheme to help pregnant women quit smoking.
Up to £400 worth of vouchers were given to the women for successfully reaching specific quit milestones.
Because of the impact of passive smoking on unborn children, household members could receive up to £200 in vouchers for stubbing out the habit.
Now committee members have agreed to continue the scheme – but only for household members as the government has started a national financial incentives scheme for pregnant women.
Public health consultant Dr Matthew Atkinson told the committee: “Smoking and addressing smoking remains vitally important.
“It’s a leading cause of premature, preventable deaths, and it causes harm to both babies and growing children and also others in their households.
“It does also have huge costs to our health and social care system, so it’s a ‘win, win’ if we manage to address it.”
Some councillors questioned whether it was worthwhile continuing for household members when just eight family members had joined.
Dr Atkinson said: “We’re just paying for the vouchers for those people.
“Yes, it would be better if more people were referred and we hope that, with the national scheme coming in, there’s more awareness of it.”
Cllr Janet Clowes (Wybunbury, Con) said she had worked on a portage home visiting scheme in Stoke children’s services “where heavy smoking was highly related to low birth weight, to prematurity and all sorts of other health issues for the child, giving them a really poor start in life”.
Helen Charlesworth-May, executive director of adults, health and integration, said the annual report of the child death overview panel, shows that “smoking is still one of the modifiable causes, a cause that could be changed, of death amongst our babies in Cheshire East“.
She recommended continuing the scheme for household members.
Cllr John Place (Bollington, Lab) said: “What the pregnant woman or the household member gets is support from professionals to actually quit and make it long term, so I would support it.”
Twelve committee members voted to continue the voucher scheme for household members and one abstained.
Council Tax payers money is not there used to fund people into stop smoking.
Get some self discipline. If you you want to stop. don’t expect other tax payers to pay. I cannot afford to smoke, it is a disgusting habit. Other tax payers are not there to pay for your inadequacies if you are a smoker.
A total waste of tax payers money.
These are the names of the Councillors on the committee that think people should be paid to stop smoking.
Councillors Arthur Moran, John Place, Jill Rhodes, Judy Snowball, Dawn Clark, Ben Wye, Sue Adams, Janet Clowes, Stewart Gardiner, Andrew Kolker and Liz Wardlaw
If they were genuinely worried about the well-being of their unborn child they would give up.
This just seems a total waste of tax payers money, is there any hard evidence to show the effectiveness of this,how many have actually stopped smoking.
Absolutely bonkers, especially as CEC is cash strapped. If pregnant women cannot protect their unborn child, then they shouldn’t be having children. It’s abuse of an unborn if mothers are smoking or drinking and could potential give the unborn untold medical conditions after birth.
Jeffing bonkers of a council, run by inept people.
I would like CEC to pay me for NEVER smoking – how about that one.
PF – concur waste of mine and your money and the rest of rate paying households under CEC.
If a pregnant woman can’t prioritize stopping smoking for the hope of having a successful pregnancy and a healthy baby, they certainly don’t deserve any vouchers. Absolute joke!
People have no accountability. It’s not everyone else’s job to stop them from a deadly disgusting habit.
Good idea, no one likes to be around stinky smokers and should pay back in spades for the NHS.
What a waste of (my) money !
More council money going up in smoke !!
What a farce