Pillar Guide · Updated July 2026
The Healthy Start Scheme: A Complete UK Guide for 2026/27
Healthy Start provides a prepaid card to eligible pregnant women and families with young children to help buy healthy food and milk. This guide explains who qualifies, how much is loaded onto the card, what it can and cannot be used for, and how to apply.
What Healthy Start Is
Healthy Start is a UK government scheme providing a prepaid card, topped up regularly, to help pregnant women and families with children under four buy fruit, vegetables, milk, and infant formula, aimed at supporting a healthy diet for low-income families during pregnancy and early childhood.
Who Qualifies
A family generally qualifies if they are pregnant or have a child under four and receive Universal Credit with household earnings below a set monthly limit, Child Tax Credit (with household income below a set limit and not also receiving Working Tax Credit), Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, or Pension Credit. All pregnant women under 18 qualify automatically regardless of income.
How Much Is on the Card
The card is topped up weekly with a fixed amount: a lower rate for a pregnancy before the baby is born, a higher rate once a child is born and until their first birthday, and a further amount for each additional qualifying child aged one to three, with the rates reviewed periodically by the Department of Health and Social Care.
What You Can Buy
The card can be used to buy plain cow's milk, fresh, frozen or tinned fruit and vegetables (without added ingredients such as sugar, salt or fat), and infant formula milk suitable from birth, at any retailer that accepts the card, which includes most major supermarkets alongside many smaller shops registered with the scheme.
How the Prepaid Card Works
Once approved, families receive a prepaid card that works like a normal debit card at the till but can only be used for approved items, topped up automatically at the scheme's payment intervals for as long as eligibility continues, with any unspent balance from one period generally able to roll over and be used later within the scheme's rules.
Free Vitamins
Families receiving Healthy Start are also entitled to free vitamin supplements (containing vitamins C, D and folic acid for pregnant women and mothers, or vitamins A, C and D for young children), available from local health services such as children's centres, health visitor clinics or pharmacies participating in the scheme, in addition to the money loaded onto the prepaid card.
How to Apply
Applications are made online through the Healthy Start website, requiring National Insurance number and details of the qualifying benefit, with a midwife or health visitor's confirmation sometimes needed for a pregnancy application submitted before the baby is born. Processing typically takes a few weeks, and payments are not usually backdated beyond a limited period, so applying as early as possible in a qualifying pregnancy is advisable.
Reviewing and Renewing Eligibility
Eligibility is periodically reassessed, and families must reapply or confirm their circumstances at set review points to keep receiving the card, since a change in benefit entitlement, household income, or the child ageing out of the scheme's age limits can end eligibility. Families are usually notified in advance of a review to allow time to reapply if they still qualify.