The union Unite's Community Practitioners and Health Visitors Association (CPHVA) says without such a safeguard health services for young people will suffer.
The call comes amid continuing cuts to public health grants to local authorities, which since 2015 have been responsible for health visiting service provision.
At the 2015 Spending Review, the government announced a 3.9 per cent real-terms cut in public health funding over the next five years.
This has resulted in £77m of cuts in 2016/17, with a further £84m taken from public health budgets in 2017/18, on top of £200m cuts in 2015/16.
Unite said it is particularly concerned that cuts are leading to a fall in health visitor numbers, with latest NHS workforce statistics showing there were 9,410 whole-time equivalent health visitors in 2016, compared with 10,309 the year before.
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