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FREE Food, Milk & Vitamins! A Guide to the Healthy Start Scheme

Healthy eating is also yummy!Are you pregnant, or a parent with a child under four? If so, your family may be eligible for free healthy food, milk and vitamin supplements. In England, some of these free items are available under the ‘Healthy Start’ scheme, which we’ll explain in this quick-start guide.

At time of writing, the free items are available through vouchers that can be redeemed in any of the 21,000 or so physical shops, supermarkets and pharmacies that have signed up to accept them. Each voucher is currently worth £3.10 and you can get 1 every week if you are pregnant or have a child aged between 1 and 4 years of age, or 2 vouchers per week if your child is under 1.

LATEST UPDATE: the NHS has also begun testing a new alternative where money is paid into your account instead of supplying vouchers. This beta test is running right now, on an invitation-only basis via a letter from the NHS. Hopefully it’ll be rolled out country-wide if successful. If so, it could cure the current issue whereby vouchers cannot be used to pay for food, vitamins and milk online. Clearly, that’s a significant issue in view of the pandemic and the move to shopping more online.

So, what free stuff can you get?

Vouchers are redeemable in thousands of shops, supermarkets & pharmaciesEligible individuals can get the following, absolutely free:

  • Cow’s milk;
  • Infant formula milk;
  • Fruit;
  • Vegetables;
  • Pulses;
  • Free vitamin supplements for breastfeeding mums;
  • Free vitamin drops for young children (6 months to 4 years).

Free milk

This must be plain cow’s milk that’s also pasteurised, sterilised, UHT or long-life.

  • It can be skimmed, semi-skimmed or whole milk.
  • It can’t be flavoured, coloured, evaporated, condensed, powdered (except for infant formula milk), sold as a milkshake, vitamin-enriched or have anything else added to it.
  • It can’t be anything other than cow’s milk, for example soya milk, almond milk, oat milk, rice milk, goat or sheep’s milk etc.).

Free infant formula milk

Fruit, vegetables & milkThe infant formula milk:

  • must state that it’s a nutritionally complete stage one formula milk that’s suitable for use from birth.
  • mustn’t be ‘follow-on’ milk.
  • must be based on cow’s milk. You can’t get formula milk based on soya milk, almond milk, oat milk, rice milk, goat’s milk etc.

Free fruit & vegetables

The free fruit and vegetables:

  • can include any that are fresh, frozen or tinned.
  • can include any that are supplied loose, packaged, sliced, chopped, mixed, whole or supplied in water.
  • can include fruit in fruit juice.
  • can’t include any that have had fat, oil, salt, sugar or flavouring added.
  • can’t include any that have been dried, pre-cooked or made into things like smoothies.

Free pulses

The pulses, including things like lentils, beans, peas and chickpeas:

  • can include any that are fresh, dried or tinned.
  • can’t include any that have had fat, oil, salt, sugar or flavouring added.

Free vitamin supplements

Free vitamin supplements for pregnant women and children aged up to 4 years oldThese free vitamin supplements are important for pregnant women, breastfeeding mums, babies and young children because many are deficient in them at this stage in their lives.

For children aged up to 4, they are in drop form and contain vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin D. They are suitable for vegetarians and do not contain milk, eggs, gluten, soya or peanuts. Each bottle should last for 8 weeks. Note that children who are consuming 500ml per day of nutritionally complete formula milk do not need the additional vitamin supplements.

For pregnant women and nursing mums, the supplements are in tablet form and contain vitamin C, vitamin D and folic acid. They are suitable for vegetarians and vegans and do not contain colouring, flavouring or preservatives. They also contain no gluten, wheat, salt, egg or fish. Eligible mothers are supplied with 8 weeks’ worth of tablets at a time.

The vitamin supplements are distributed to stockists by the NHS and are ‘Healthy Start’ branded. Only this brand is available free under the Healthy Start scheme.

Eligibility

Families can save a little on their shopping bills with Healthy Start couponsIn order to be eligible for Healthy Start vouchers, you need:

  • to be 10 or more weeks’ pregnant and/or
  • to have 1 or more children under 4.

Eligibility also requires that you must* be in receipt of at least one of the following:

  • Income Support;
  • Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance;
  • Income-related Employment & Support Allowance;
  • Pension Credit;
  • Universal Credit (only for families earning £408 each month, or less, from employment);
  • Working Tax Credit (only for families receiving the 4 week ‘run-on’ payment after they’ve stopped qualifying for it);
  • Child Tax Credit (only for families with an income of £16,190 or less per annum).
    * Except if you’re under 18.

How to apply for the vouchers

Currently, most people need to apply for Healthy Start vouchers, by filling in an application form. Download the application form here, print it out and fill it in. It will also need to be signed by your registered doctor, health visitor, midwife or health professional. Then it will need to be posted (free) to the following address:

The Healthy Start scheme means free food, milk & vitamins for families

Freepost RRTR-SYAE-JKCR
Healthy Start Issuing Unit
PO Box 1067
Warrington
WA55 1EG

Call the Healthy Start helpline if you have any queries (0345 607 6823).

Childcare services in Streatham, London SW16

We hope that this guide is useful to pregnant ladies and parents of babies or under-fives. We are an outstanding nursery in Streatham, London SW16, offering exceptionally high quality childcare services for babies, toddlers and preschoolers within this age group. If you’d like to learn more about our nursery, please call 020 8677 9675 or send us a message here. We’ll answer any questions and would be happy to book you in for a nursery visit if you are considering a nursery place here for your baby or child. We’re convenient for those looking for nurseries near Streatham Hill, Streatham Common, Streatham Park, Upper Tooting, Tooting Bec, Tooting Common, Furzedown & Balham.