You must apply for certain benefits to qualify. If you qualify for Healthy Start in England and Wales, you can get free vitamins and a prepaid card to cover the cost of milk, vegetables (including frozen vegetables) and fruits (or infant formula if you've had your baby). Healthy Start coupons are vouchers that you can use to buy milk, infant formula, fruits, vegetables and legumes. Healthy Start vitamins are also available and a voucher will be sent to you every 8 weeks that you can redeem for vitamins.
If you receive an income-related employment and support subsidy, you'll need to apply for the child tax credit (only if you already have an existing tax credit application) or switch to the universal credit to continue to qualify for Healthy Start once your baby is born. More information on what you can buy with your vouchers can be found on the NHS Healthy Start pages. It's very important for pregnant women and young children to have good nutrition, and the Healthy Start program helps low-income families access healthier food to help their children start life in the best way. You can use the Healthy Start eligibility checker, which will help you check if you are eligible to apply for the program.
With Healthy Start, you get free vouchers every week to spend on milk, fresh, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables, fresh, dried and canned legumes, and baby formula. If you are pregnant or have a child under the age of four and live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, you can get Healthy Start vouchers to help buy some basic foods. You can also call the Healthy Start helpline at 0345 607 6823 and request a form to be mailed to you, or request a form from your family doctor or midwife. Healthy Start food stamps can be exchanged for natural cow's milk, fresh, frozen or canned fruits and vegetables, and infant formula milk.
Healthy Start is a program to help pregnant women, first-time parents and their children in England and Wales eat healthy.