Healthy Start

Eligible households receive a payment card which is topped up every 4 weeks which can be spent on fresh, frozen or tinned fruit and vegetables, pulses, cow's milk or first infant formula, as well as access to free multivitamins to support pregnancy, breastfeeding and infancy.

As of April 2026, the value of the Healthy Start weekly payments will increase from £4.25 per eligible individual or £8.50 for infants under one, to £4.65 per eligible individual and £9.30 for infants under one. This is the first increase in payment since April 2021 and is therefore welcome. However, the value of payments falls short of the value offered in Scotland under the equivalent scheme of Best Start (payments are £10.80 for under 1s and £5.40 for pregnant women and 1-4 year olds).

Pregnant people and young children in low-income families can struggle to access healthy food such as fruit and vegetables which is especially important during pregnancy and early years development. The scheme  helps to tackle this health inequality by supporting families with an important means-tested nutritional safety net that supports healthy food choices.

The Healthy Start scheme offers multiple benefits:

• Evaluations of the Healthy Start found that it improved household nutrition by increasing fruit and vegetable purchases by 15%, increased the proportion of women meeting their recommended nutrient intake and improved dietary choices, including the quantity and range of fruit and vegetables purchased. 
• It is also highly valued by beneficiaries, with many reporting a positive impact on household finances. 
• Healthy Start can be spent with any retailer that accepts Mastercard and has the potential to boost local economies and support small businesses. Examples include Good Food Retail work with convenience stores and the work of Bury Council to make the market a Healthy Start destination.

Despite the importance and benefits of Healthy Start, there are many challenges and opportunities to strengthen the scheme. Sustain and The Food Foundation work together to campaign for improvements to the scheme so that it can have better reach and impact.

Read our MP briefing for more details.

Our policy calls are divided into four categories:

• Expanding eligibility for the scheme
• Improving access and uptake
• Supporting the scheme to meet its nutrition objectives
• Increasing the value of the payments

What needs to be done nationally?

The scheme is important but is not reaching it’s full potential, and issues with data mean uptake and impact cannot be monitored.  To ensure it has the desired impact, Government should show leadership by:

• Extending the scheme to all families in receipt of Universal Credit (in line with the expansion of free school meals eligibility), so that more children living in poverty receive the nutritional benefits
• Expanding eligibility to children under 5 years old, bridging the gap between the Healthy Start scheme ending and universal Infant Free School Meals and to align with Government recommendations on vitamin supplementation
• Expanding eligibility of the Healthy Start scheme to non-British children under 5 from families with no recourse to public funds (NRPF), pregnant women with NRPF and mothers with children under 1 with NRPF, who meet the other eligibility criteria
• Increasing uptake to ensure no eligible family misses out by resolving data issues and publishing uptake data, immediately writing to all eligible families to ensure they are aware of the scheme and working towards auto-enrolment
• Ensure weekly payments maintain their relative value by increasing payments to reflect inflationary increases in food prices. The value should be reviewed annually to ensure it is increased in line with inflationary changes; and explore how to facilitate retailers adding further value to the scheme.

Read our full Healthy Start Working Group Policy Position paper for further information.

What can you do locally?

Local authorities, public health professionals, community groups, food partnerships, food poverty alliances and retailers can play a vital role in helping to increase the uptake and impact of the Healthy Start scheme in their area, for example by:

•  Helping ensure Healthy Start is available and promoted in relevant settings, with trained frontline staff/volunteers able to support families to apply (e.g., children’s centres, GP offices, etc.)
• Having a local strategy or communications plan for coordinating and promoting the Healthy Start scheme, including a strategy for vitamin uptake and reducing stigma
• Putting a local system in place such as the Low Income Family Tracker (LIFT) Dashboard or similar alternative system to identify and contact households that are likely eligible for Healthy Start to inform them of the scheme
• Translating promotional material into other common languages in your community so everyone is made aware of the scheme. This leaflet includes 10 translations and can be downloaded and used for free (with thanks to Lambeth Council). The NHS Healthy Start communications toolkit also offers helpful tools
• Working with statutory and volunteer advice services to embed information about Healthy Start eligibility into routine support offered
• Collaborating with partner organisations on the scheme, ensuring a wide reach of communication and support for families to sign up e.g. hosting a working group of key partners, running joint campaigns etc.
• Meeting with local public health decision-makers to discuss low uptake and how it can be addressed, including sharing research on the lost total income to families
• Working with a range of local food retailers to improve promotion and acceptance of the scheme, including with convenience stores, market stalls and other types of retail
• Partnering with Alexandra Rose to increase voucher value if applicable
• Appointing a council officer or health professional to oversee Healthy Start in the area as a main point of contact
• Joining our Healthy Start email forum to ask questions, share resources and get support from others working on the scheme. Details below.

Join our Healthy Start email forum

A chance to ask questions, share resources and get support from others working on the scheme. Email healthy_start-subscribe@lists.riseup.net to join and once subscribed you can then send a message to everyone in the group by emailing healthy_start@lists.riseup.net.

Healthy Start Map

Check our Healthy Start map for uptake and estimated cash shortfall in every local authority in England and Wales. Figures used are out of date as accurate uptake data has not been published since January 2023.

Resources

• Making the most of Healthy Start: A toolkit for local action (Food Power and London Food Link, 2019)
• Healthy Start and Best Start Learning Network webinar (Food Power Festival, May 2021)
• Healthy Start eligibility calculator (End Child Food Poverty, May 2021)
• Food poverty alliances' case studies on promoting Healthy Start and Best Start
• Healthy Start and Best Start Foods: A practical guide  (First Steps Nutrition Trust 2022)
• Healthy Start: What happened? What next? (First Steps Nutrition Trust 2018)

Healthy Start is the scheme used in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and Best Start is used in Scotland.