UK households with children under the age of four can get up to £442 per year to spend on food as part of an NHS scheme.
The health service offers a ‘Healthy Start’ card to help low income parents afford to buy their children healthy foods, such as milk, fruit and vegetables, to ensure they receive good nutrition early in life. Eligible parents in England, Wales or Northern Ireland can get up to £8.50 per week for their children from birth until they are one year old, which amounts to £442 over a full year.
Once a child reaches their first birthday the amount you can get will reduce by half to £4.25 per week until they are four years old. So over the course of three years you can claim, this would amount to £663 – or £221 per year.
Those who qualify for the scheme will be issued a Healthy Start card which will be loaded with money every four weeks. This card can then be used in various shops, including supermarkets, convenience and grocery stores, markets, pharmacies and petrol stations, to buy:
- plain cow’s milk – whole, semi-skimmed or skimmed. It can be pasteurised, sterilised long-life or UHT
- fresh, frozen, or tinned fruit and vegetables – these can be loose, prepacked, whole, sliced, chopped, or mixed fruit or vegetables
- fruit in fruit juice, or fruit or vegetables in water, but not those with added fat, salt, sugar, or flavourings
- cow’s milk-based infant formula milk – this must be labelled as suitable for use from birth
- fresh, dried, and tinned pulses, including lentils, beans, peas, and chickpeas but not those with added fat, salt, sugar, or flavourings
Retailers aren’t responsible for checking what people buy with their card – this responsibility falls to the card holder, but the NHS warns that cards are monitored and if misused, payments may be stopped.
The NHS says: “NHS Healthy Start payments are to help you towards the cost of buying healthy food and milk as part of your food shop. You should only use your card to buy permitted healthy food and milk items. You should not use your card:
- to buy anything other than the permitted items listed in these scheme rules
- to shop online
- outside of the UK
“We routinely monitor use of the cards. If we suspect your card is being misused, it could be suspended and your payments could stop.
“If you do not follow the scheme rules, we may investigate your transactions and request proof of your purchases. If the rules have not been followed, this could lead to your claim being closed and your payments stopping. You must return your card to us if we ask you to.”
To apply for the scheme you must be receiving a qualifying benefit, be at least 10 weeks pregnant, or have parental responsibility for at least one child under the age of four. If you’re pregnant and under the age of 18 then you can claim the cash even if you don’t receive any benefits.
The card will arrive prepaid and will come with instructions on how to activate it. The card should be used at least once every 16 weeks or payments may stop and you’ll need to reapply.
Applications for the scheme can be made online via the NHS website. If you qualify, payments will stop once your child reaches four years old, or if you no longer receive benefits.
