The Healthy Start scheme in the UK is a vital program designed to provide a nutritional safety net for pregnant women and families with young children on low incomes. It offers financial assistance through a prepaid card that can be used to buy essential healthy foods like plain liquid cow's milk, fresh/frozen/tinned fruit and vegetables, pulses, and infant formula. Additionally, eligible individuals can receive free Healthy Start vitamins for themselves during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and for their children up to four years old.
Healthy Start : who is Eligible?
If you're over 10 weeks pregnant or have kids under 4, you could get free healthy food and milk with the Healthy Start scheme!
You must be receiving any of the following:
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Child Tax Credit (only if your family’s annual income is £16,190 or less)
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Income Support
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Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
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Pension Credit (which includes the child addition)
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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:
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you’re under 18 and pregnant, even if you are not claiming any benefits
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you claim income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and are over 10 weeks pregnant
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you or your partner get Working Tax Credit run-on only. (Working Tax Credit run-on is the Working Tax Credit you receive in the 4 weeks immediately after you have stopped working for 16 hours or more per week).
Healthy Start : What you're Entitled to?
With your Healthy Start card, you can purchase:
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Plain cow’s milk (whole, semi-skimmed, or skimmed; pasteurised, sterilised, long-life, or UHT)
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Infant formula (must be cow’s milk-based and suitable from birth)
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Fresh, frozen, or tinned fruit and vegetables (without added fat, salt, sugar, or flavourings)
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Fresh, dried, or tinned pulses (like lentils, beans, peas, and chickpeas, again without added extras)
Where You Can Shop
You can use the card in any store that accepts Mastercard, including:
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Local convenience stores
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Supermarkets (like Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Lidl, Aldi)
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Some market stalls (if they accept card payments)
How It Works
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The card is a prepaid debit card.
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It’s topped up every 4 weeks with:
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£4.25/week during pregnancy (from the 10th week)
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£8.50/week for children under 1
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£4.25/week for children aged 1–4
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You don’t need to tell the cashier you’re using a Healthy Start card—just use it like a regular debit card
Thanks to funding from the Greater London Authority, since October 2023 Good Food Lewisham has focussed on promotion of the NHS Healthy Start Scheme to eligible families, with the important goal of helping more eligible Lewisham residents discover and apply for the Healthy Start card.
We focused our efforts on engagement in areas with the lowest take-up and highest levels of deprivation in the borough, actively promoting the scheme through local stores, community organisations, printing and displaying large banners around the boroughs fruit and veg stalls, social supermarkets and children's play parks, and promoting through the Good Food Lewisham Business charter.
Please help us share this message far and wide because the Healthy Start scheme offers vital support, enabling families on a low-income in our borough access funds to purchase healthy foods for their children.
If you're interested in learning more about the Healthy Start scheme or would like to help support people with their applications, you can access our presentation below.
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