Your Guide to the NHS Healthy Start Card

February 7, 2023
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Your Guide to the NHS Healthy Start Card

About 4 million children in the UK live in a low-income household that is struggling to afford to buy healthy foods.

Studies estimate that 47% of all UK households with children do not spend enough money on healthy food to meet the nutrition guidelines.

In response, the government launched the Healthy Start scheme to give families vouchers to spend on healthy foods.

In addition, they added a free vitamin voucher so that pregnant women and mothers can get vitamin tablets and vitamin drops for children.

Thanks to the Healthy Start scheme, expectant mothers and children in England and Wales are eating healthily.

Want to learn more about Healthy Start? Keep reading!

What are Healthy Start Vouchers?

Healthy Start Vouchers are vouchers that you can use to buy healthy foods. Available to pregnant women and parents responsible for children under age 4, the vouchers allow you to get vitamins. You can also buy plain cow’s milk, tinned or frozen fruits and vegetables and instant formula.

The free vitamins are usually available at the nearest health centre or NHS clinic. Women can have vitamin tablets while pregnant and up to their baby’s first birthday.

Children from the age of 4 weeks until their 4th birthday can also have free vitamin drops from the Healthy Start program.

However, if your child is having 500ml or more of baby formula each day, then you don’t need the vitamin drops.

You can get the vitamins from your health board, primary care trust or health trust. What you need to know is that the process of getting vitamins changed in March 2022.

This is because they switched from vouchers and paper applications to the Healthy Start prepaid card. However, you can still use any valid vouchers to get free vitamins.

If you live in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, you can get the Healthy Start vouchers. However, if you live in Scotland, you cannot get the vouchers but you can apply for Best Start Foods instead.

How Much Are Healthy Start Vouchers Worth?

If you’re pregnant, you’ll receive Healthy Start vouchers worth £4.25. You’ll also receive a similar amount of vouchers (£4.25) each week for every child in your household aged over one but under four years.

You can also get the Healthy Start vouchers worth £8.50 every week for each baby in your household aged one and under.

Your Healthy Start payment will stop after your child’s 4th birthday. Also, if you stop receiving benefits, the money from Healthy Start will stop.

Healthy Start Vouchers Card Eligibility

The Healthy Start program provides help to eligible pregnant mothers and families to buy milk, and healthy foods. To qualify for Healthy Start vouchers, you must have at least one child under four or be at least 10 weeks pregnant. In addition, you must receive any of the following:

Pension Credit including the child addition
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
Universal Credit (only if the family’s take-home pay is £408 or less every month from employment)
Income Support
Child Tax Credit (for families with an annual income of £16,190 or less)

You’re also eligible for Healthy Start vouchers if:

You’re over 10 weeks pregnant and claim income-related Employment and Support Allowance
You’re under 18, pregnant and not claiming benefits
You or your partner get a Working Tax Credit run-on only and work 16 hours or less per week

If you’re not a British citizen but your child is, you might be eligible for Healthy Start vouchers. However, the following must be true.

You must have at least one British child under 4 years
You cannot claim benefits either because you don’t have an immigration status
Your family earns £408 or less per month after tax

To know if you can claim benefits, check your biometric residence permit. Alternatively, you can check your online immigration status or obtain a letter from the Home Office.

What Can You Buy With the NHS Healthy Start Card?

Here is the full list of what you can buy with Healthy Start vouchers or the prepaid card.

Plain cow’s milk – whole, skimmed or semi-skimmed. It can be UHT, sterilised, long-life and pasteurised.
Plain fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables – whole, loose, packaged, or chopped
Dried or tinned pulses
Instant formula

You can’t spend your Healthy Start vouchers or prepaid card on:

Evaporated milk
Coloured milk
Flavoured milk
Soya milk
Goat’s milk
Powdered milk

If your child cannot drink cow’s milk, talk to your doctor, or health advisor. As previously mentioned, if you can’t buy cow’s milk with Healthy Start vouchers, you can spend them on fruits or vegetables but not soya or goat milk.

If you’re breastfeeding your baby, use the Healthy Start vouchers or prepaid card to buy fruits and vegetables or cow’s milk for yourself.

Once you introduce your baby to solid foods, you can use the vouchers to shop for healthy foods.

When it comes to fruits and vegetables, you cannot spend your vouchers on fruits and veggies with added salt, sugar, fat and other ingredients.

Also, you cannot spend the vouchers on dried, pre-cooked or tinned fruit juice, fruits and vegetables or smoothies.

Instant formulas not based on cow’s milk such as goat’s or soya milk formula are all prohibited. In addition, avoid follow-on formulas made for babies aged 6 months or older.

What you can get with your Healthy Start vouchers or prepaid card is free vitamins for pregnant women and vitamin drops for kids.

The vitamin tablets and drops are specially formulated for growing children under four years old, mums-to-be and new mums.

Remember, with every second set of Healthy Start vouchers you receive, you’ll get a vitamin voucher. Then, you can exchange the vitamin voucher for free vitamins locally.

Simply ask your doctor, health advisor or midwife where you can pick your free vitamin tablets and drops.

How Many Healthy Start Vouchers Can You Use at Once?

You’ll receive Healthy Start vouchers by post every four weeks. That means you can claim up to £8.50 to help towards the cost of food.

Once you receive the voucher, use it to buy fruits, vegetables, instant baby formula and other healthy foods at the following locations:

Grocery stores
Markets
Supermarkets
Dairy product stores
Petrol stations
News dealers
Newsstands
Pharmacies and drug stores
Convenience stores

If using the Healthy Start prepaid card, you can only shop from stores that have the Mastercard logo. If unsure, you can always inquire from a store employee. Remember, you cannot use the Healthy Start vouchers or prepaid card to shop for healthy foods online.

Where Do You Get The NHS Healthy Start Card From?

Every four weeks, Healthy Start sends vouchers by post. To claim your Healthy Start Food vouchers, you need to fill in a claim form.

The claim form is usually available in a leaflet called Healthy Start which you can get from your doctor or midwife. Alternatively, you can apply online or download the form.

The voucher claim starts from the date its received. What you need to know is that Healthy Start cannot backdate the claim.

If your circumstances change, call the Healthy Start helpline. Payments or vouchers will not continue if you fail to meet the qualifying conditions.

How to Apply for the Healthy Start Scheme

As aforementioned, the Healthy Start Scheme provides vouchers to pregnant women and families to buy healthy food. In addition, you can get free Healthy Start vitamins which support a healthy pregnancy and breastfeeding. To enjoy these benefits and more, you need to apply online.

But first, you must meet the qualifying conditions. If you do, visit the NHS website and click “Start Now.”

You’ll need your:

Name
National Insurance Number
Address
Your Date of birth
Baby’s due date (if pregnant)
Benefit award letter if over 18 years

When applying online, make sure that you enter the exact details shown on your benefit award letter. Also, make sure that your details with the DWP and HMRC are up to date.

To find out if your details are up to date, contact them via the available support lines.

Besides applying online, you can also apply by phone or email.

Email – [email protected]
Call 0300 330 7010

The phone lines are open 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday. Unfortunately, the phone lines a off on public holidays. If applying via email, ask for the application form.

If you’re under 18 and more than 10 weeks pregnant and not receiving any benefits, you qualify for Healthy Start until your baby is born. To apply, call the number above and provide the following:

Your baby’s due date
Your NHS number
Your National Insurance number
A copy of your birth certificate

After giving birth, you’ll continue qualifying for the Healthy Start Scheme if you get the tax credits or qualifying benefits. To make sure you receive the Healthy Start vouchers or card, call the number above.

Then you need to apply for Child Tax Credits immediately and inform Universal Credit by updating your online account. Then reapply online and make a new claim. Payments will stop 4 weeks after your baby’s due date if you fail to reapply.

If you’re unable to register your child’s birth, you need to speak to DWP or HMRC. This is to ensure that your child is in your benefit claim. Failure to do so means that you’ll not receive payment.

If you’re Universal Credit, you should contact the NHS and inform them of your baby’s name and date of birth. Without this information, your payments will stop. To start receiving your payments, you’ll have to reapply.

Remember, if your circumstances change, you need to inform the Healthy Start service.

How Has Healthy Start Scheme Changed?

Healthy Start launched a digital scheme in 2022 that now offers a prepaid card instead of paper vouchers. Payments are automatically topped to the card every four weeks.

This ensures that you can shop for healthy foods, instant baby formula, cow’s milk and receive free vitamins.

If you’re a Healthy Start beneficiary on the paper voucher scheme, you’ll receive a letter or leaflet.

If you’re not already a Healthy Start beneficiary but are pregnant and receiving a qualifying benefit, you can apply online and get the new Healthy Start prepaid card.

If you fail to apply for the Healthy Start prepaid card, your benefits for you and your children will stop. However, you can continue using your paper vouchers until the expiry date printed on them.

There are several benefits of moving to the prepaid card option.

You can use the prepaid card anywhere that accepts Mastercard
The card is discreet and secure
Your payments will be automatically added to the prepaid card
You no longer need to wait for your vouchers to arrive in the post
Any money not spent will always remain in the prepaid card

With the new prepaid card, you can use it at places that sell fruits, vegetables, instant formula and milk.

If you’re unsure, always ask the store assistant if they take Mastercard. Trying to spend your money anywhere else means your card will get declined. Besides buying healthy foods, you can also collect vitamins with the new prepaid card.

Simply show the healthcare professionals your prepaid card and you’ll collect your vitamins. No money will be taken from your card. To find the nearest vitamin distributor, visit the NHS website.

Remember, you can only shop in-store with your Healthy Start prepaid card but you cannot withdraw the funds in your card from any ATM.

Overview…

Nutrition during pregnancy and the early years of development impacts the long-term health and growth of a child. Thanks to the Healthy Start scheme, families on benefits receive prepaid cards which allow them to shop for healthy foods at local stores.

Besides healthy foods, mums-to-be get free vitamin tablets for pregnant women and vitamin drops for children under 4 years. Each bottle of vitamin or drops contains enough tablets to last eight weeks.

If your Healthy Start vouchers or prepaid card gets stolen, report it to the police. Get a crime reference number, then contact the Healthy Start helpline.

If you move house, inform the Jobcentre Plus, HMRC tax credits or your local benefits office. You should also contact the Healthy Start helpline so that they can post vouchers or new prepaid cards to the new address.