Healthy Start Card
A prepaid NHS card topped up every four weeks for healthy food and milk, plus free vitamins, for families on qualifying benefits and pregnant under-18s.
By the Ledger desk2 min read
Photo: Dr Neil Clifton / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
If you are more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under 4 and get Universal Credit or another qualifying benefit, an NHS Healthy Start card helps pay for milk, fruit, vegetables, pulses and infant formula, and you can get free vitamins too.
How the Healthy Start card works
The Healthy Start card is a prepaid card, and money is added onto it every 4 weeks. The amount depends on whether you are pregnant, have a baby under one or a child aged one to four, and the current figures are on the Healthy Start website. The card can be used in UK shops that take Mastercard, including supermarkets, convenience stores, pharmacies and markets, but not online, abroad, through a phone wallet app, or to withdraw cash or get cashback. You need to activate it and use your PIN the first time, after which contactless payments work.
It buys plain liquid cow's milk, fresh, frozen and tinned fruit and vegetables, fresh, dried and tinned pulses, and infant formula based on cow's milk. You can also get free Healthy Start vitamins for pregnancy and breastfeeding, and vitamin drops for children from birth to 4 years old: ask your midwife or health visitor where to collect them locally.
Who can get it
You may qualify if you are more than 10 weeks pregnant or have at least one child under 4, and one of these applies:
- you get Universal Credit and your family's monthly take-home pay from work is under the scheme's earnings limit
- you get Pension Credit that includes the child addition
- you are under 18 and pregnant, even if you do not get any benefits
- you are not a British citizen but have a British child under 4, your family has a low monthly income, and you cannot claim public funds because of your immigration status
Under-18s qualify until the baby is born. After that, they only continue if they get a qualifying benefit, so they need to reapply; otherwise payments stop 4 weeks after the due date.
How to apply
Families on Universal Credit apply online through the Healthy Start website. The details you give must match your Universal Credit claim, so check your address and make sure all your children are named and verified on your Universal Credit account first. Payments should start once your child is verified and appears on your Universal Credit statement, which can take up to 8 weeks after verification.
If you get Pension Credit, or you are under 18, apply by email to [email protected] or by calling 0300 330 7010 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, except public holidays). Families who cannot claim public funds request a form from [email protected].
Before applying, read the eligibility rules on the Healthy Start website carefully, and keep your Universal Credit details up to date so payments are not delayed.
General information, checked against the sources below at the time of writing. Rules, rates and deadlines change, often each April; confirm with GOV.UK, the council or the organisation concerned before you rely on them. For advice on your own case, Citizens Advice is free.
