Legislation requiring health visitor family checks to be carried out on a mandatory basis expires this month. But a review conducted by Public Health England (PHE) found that all stakeholder groups, commissioners, providers and professionals wanted checks to remain mandatory.
The DH has now confirmed that local authorities will be required to continue delivering health checks beyond March 2017.
Public health minister Nicola Blackwood said: "Health visitors support families to give children the best possible start in life, that's why we have taken strong action to making these services mandatory across the country."
Organisations responding to the review, which launched in July 2016, said the current mandatory nature of health checks creates "a uniformity of expectations across the country, helping to ensure that families benefit from the service irrespective of where they live".
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