Healthy start for your child

Healthy Start Food Scheme

What is Healthy Start?

The NHS Healthy Start card scheme is a national program that helps young families and pregnant women on low-incomes to access healthy food and milk.

If you’re more than 10 weeks pregnant or have children under four and receive certain benefits, you could be eligible for NHS Healthy Start. 

Once on the scheme, you’ll receive a prepaid card which you can use to buy fruit, vegetables, pulses, milk and infant formula. 

The card will be topped up with payments every four weeks and you can use it in most places that sell healthy food and accept Mastercard payments. 

You can visit the NHS Healthy Start website or the Well Newham Healthy Start Card page for more information and FAQs.

Who is eligible for the Healthy Start card and how to apply?

There are three categories for how to apply, which depend on the type of state benefit you receive.

1. Apply online at https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/how-to-apply/

  • If you’re more than 10 weeks pregnant or have at least one child under 4 years old

and

  • your family’s monthly ‘take-home pay’ (also called ‘earned income’) is £408 or less from employment

The details you use to apply for Healthy Start must match the details on your Universal Credit claim.

2. Apply by email healthy.start@nhsbsa.nhs.uk or by phone 0300 330 7010

If you’re more than 10 weeks pregnant, or have at least one child under 4 years old, and get either:

  • Income Support
  • Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
  • Pension Credit (which includes the child addition)

Or if you are more than 10 weeks pregnant and either:

  • Under 18 years old and not getting benefits
  • Getting Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

3. Apply by emailing healthystartNRPF@nhsbsa.nhs.uk to request an application form.

If you’re not a British citizen but your child is, you might be eligible for Healthy Start depending on your immigration status.

You can get Healthy Start if the following are true:

Your online immigration status will say if you cannot claim public funds. You might also have a letter from the Home Office about it.

The eligibility criteria for this extension does not include pregnant women.

Only use this email address if you think you cannot claim public funds because of your immigration status.

If your child’s other parent lives with you and has access to public funds, they must apply for Healthy Start. They can do this by using one of the application routes outlined on this page.

What do you get?

If you are eligible, you’ll be sent a Healthy Start card with money added to it every four weeks to spend on certain food and milk.

£4.25 each week of your pregnancy from the 10th week

£8.50 each week for children from birth to 1 year old

£4.25 each week for children between 1 to 4 years old

This adds up to as much as £280 a year per child.

Your money will stop after your child’s 4th birthday, or if you no longer receive benefits.

You can also get free vitamins from Newham Council – including folic acid, vitamin C, and vitamin D. 

Free Healthy Start Vitamins Scheme | Well Newham

What Can You Use It For?

You can use your Healthy Start Card to buy:

  • plain liquid cow’s milk
  • fresh, frozen, and tinned fruit and vegetables
  • fresh, dried, and tinned pulses
  • infant formula milk made from cow’s milk and ‘suitable from birth’

Where can you use your Healthy Start Card?

You can use your card in most places that sell milk, infant formula, fruit and vegetables. This includes:

  • supermarkets
  • convenience stores
  • grocery stores
  • drug stores and pharmacies
  • markets
  • dairy products stores
  • new dealers and newsstands
  • freezer and locker meat provisioners (such as butchers' shops)
  • petrol stations.

They must display a Mastercard® symbol. The symbol is normally shown on the shop door or at the till. Ask an employee inside the shop if they take Mastercard if you’re unsure.

If you try and spend money elsewhere, the card will be declined. For example, you cannot use your card at a fast-food restaurant.

For more information on how to shop with your Healthy Start Card, you can visit this page.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

For more information and FAQs visit the Well Newham Healthy Start Card page

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