If you're a City of York resident you may be eligible for the Healthy Start Programme.
If you’re pregnant or have children under the age of 4 you can get free vouchers or payments every 4 weeks to spend on:
- cow’s milk
- fresh, frozen or tinned fruit and vegetables
- infant formula milk
- fresh, dried, and tinned pulses
You can also get free Healthy Start vitamins. You can find out more about the vitamins you and your baby need and why at Start4Life.
About your Healthy Start benefit
If you’re pregnant or have a child under 4, you could get help to buy some basic foods and milk:
- £4.25 each week of your pregnancy (from the 10th week of your pregnancy)
- £8.50 each week for children from birth to 1 year old
- £4.25 each week for children between 1 and 4 years old
Your money will stop after your child’s 4th birthday, or if you no longer receive benefits
Qualifying for Healthy Start
You can check if you qualify for Healthy Start and register if you're at least 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under 4 years old and you or your family is getting:
- income Support, or
- income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, or
- income-related Employment and Support Allowance, or
- Child Tax Credit (with a family income of £16,190 or less per year), or Universal Credit (with a family take home pay of £408 or less per month)
You will also be eligible for Healthy Start if:
- you’re under 18 and pregnant, even if you are not claiming any benefits
- you claim income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and are over 10 weeks pregnant
- you or your partner get Working Tax Credit run-on only (Working Tax Credit run-on is the Working Tax Credit you receive in the 4 weeks immediately after you have stopped working for 16 hours or more per week)
You can find out more about the Healthy Start Programme and Healthy Start Vitamins from your midwife or health visitor or on the NHS website.
- check if you qualify for Healthy Start
- collecting your Healthy Start vitamins
- search for shops that accept Healthy Start vouchers
Also see
Children's Services Team
Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) Team