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Free milk, fruit, vegetables and vitamins

The Healthy Start Scheme provides help for eligible families and those who are pregnant to buy healthy food and milk in local shops.

Healthy Start

The Healthy Start Scheme provides a pre-paid card to help eligible families and those who are pregnant to buy:

  • plain liquid cow’s milk
  • infant formula milk based on cow’s milk
  • fresh, frozen or tinned fruit and vegetables
  • fresh, dried or tinned pulses in local shops (such as beans, peas, or lentils)

You can also use your card to request free Healthy Start vitamins which support you during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and/ or vitamin drops for babies and young children (suitable from birth to four years old).

Eligibility

You’ll qualify for the Healthy Start scheme if you’re at least 10 weeks pregnant or you have at least one child that’s under four.

In addition, you must be receiving any of the following:

  • Child Tax Credit (only if your family’s annual income is £16,190 or less)
  • Income Support
  • Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
  • Pension Credit (which includes the child addition)
  • Universal Credit (only if your family’s take-home pay is £408 or less per month from employment)

You will also be eligible for Healthy Start if:

  • you’re under 18 and pregnant, even if you are not claiming any benefits
  • you claim income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and are over 10 weeks pregnant
  • you, your partner or your carer get Working Tax Credit run-on only after you have reported you’re working 16 hours or less per week

To find out if your family earns £408 or less per month from employment whilst claiming Universal Credit, look at your ‘take-home pay for this period’ on your monthly Universal Credit award notice.

  • apply online

What you could be entitled to

You’ll get money added automatically onto your card every four weeks to spend on certain food and milk.

You’ll get:

  • £4.25 each week from the 10th week of your pregnancy
  • £8.50 each week for children from birth to one
  • £4.25 each week for children between one and four

This will stop when your child is four, or if you no longer receive benefits.

Get Healthy Start vitamins

The process for getting vitamins changed from paper applications and vouchers to the Healthy Start card. The last paper vouchers were sent out in March 2022. You can still use any valid vouchers to get free vitamins.

  • how to get vitamins

 

 

More useful links

  • Expecting or bringing up children
  • Work and families
  • Food and nutrition
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After the birth of your child

  • Drinks for babies
  • Feeding your baby
  • Free milk, fruit, vegetables and vitamins
  • Newborn screening
  • Postnatal depression
  • Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
  • The first weeks after birth
  • Your baby's health

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