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Submitted by Citizens Advice Salford, Greater Manchester
The Healthy Start Program: Get Help Buying Food and Milk.
What is a healthy start? If you’re pregnant or have children under the age of four, you can get free coupons or payments every four weeks for:
- Cow’s milk
- Fresh, frozen or preserved fruits and vegetables
- Milk for baby food
- Fresh, dried and preserved legumes
- You can also get healthy starting vitamins for free.
If you are pregnant or have a child under the age of four, you can get help with basic groceries and milk purchases.
What you get:
- € 4.25 per week of pregnancy (from the 10th week of pregnancy)
Pregnancy) - £ 8.50 per week for children from birth to one year of age
- £ 4.25 per week for children aged one to four
Your money will expire after your child’s 4th birthday or if you no longer receive benefits. You can also get free Healthy Start vitamins.
What you can buy: You are only allowed to buy certain types of milk, baby food, fruit and vegetables. Fruit and vegetables can be:
- Fresh or frozen or canned
- Fresh, dried or preserved legumes
- Whole or hacked
- Packaged or loose
- Fruit in fruit juice or fruit or vegetables in water
(You must not: Ingredients such as fat (oil), salt, sugar or flavors such as canned tomatoes and herbs, kidney beans in chilli sauce, chips or onion rings, juice or pre-cooked, fruits in syrup, be smoothies).
Pure cow milk: This has to be pure cow’s milk that is pasteurized, sterilized, long-life or ultra-heat-treated (UHT).
It must not be flavored, colored, evaporated, condensed, vegetable milk,
pulverized (unless it is first stage infant formula).
Baby food: This only has to be level one (first baby food), made from cow’s milk, nutritionally complete. Look for “complete nutrition”, “from birth”, “from birth up to six months”, or “from birth up to 12 months” on the label. It cannot be follow-on formula or milk (“from six months” or “from six to twelve months.
Get Healthy Start Vitamins For Free: These are tablets for women and drops for children. They do not contain any milk, egg, gluten, soy or peanut residues. They are suitable for vegetarians and halal diets. They are not suitable for vegans. On Start4Life you can find out more about which vitamins you and your baby need and why.
Here’s where to get your vitamins:
- On the NHS Choices website (opens in a new tab) if you live in England or ask your midwife or health visitor.
- These can be taken from birth if your child consumes less than 500 ml (about 1 pint) of baby food per day.
- If you have more, you don’t have to take it. This is because vitamins have already been added to the formula.
You or your children should not take more than the recommended amount.
Eligibility to participate: You qualify for the Healthy Start program if you are at least 10 weeks pregnant or have at least one child under the age of four. In addition, you must get:
- Child Tax Credit (only if your family’s annual income is £ 16,190 or less)
- social care
- Income-related unemployment benefit
- Pension credit (including child allowance)
- Universal Loan (only if your family’s salary is £ 408 or less per month from employment)
You are also entitled to a Healthy Start if:
- You are under 18 and pregnant, even if you are not using any benefits.
- You are applying for Income-Based Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and you are more than 10 weeks pregnant
- You or your partner will only receive an operating tax credit. (Working Tax Credit Run-on is the Working Tax Credit that you receive for 16 hours or more per week in the four weeks immediately after you stop working)
To find out if your family is making £ 408 or less per month from employment while using Universal Credit, see your “Take Home Pay For That Period” on your monthly Universal Credit Allocation Notice.
How to apply: You can apply for Gesund-Start vouchers using a paper form.
To apply for a Healthy Start voucher, you should: Download the Healthy Start Application Form from the website here and submit it to the Healthy Start Team, Freepost RRTR-SAYE-JKCR, Healthy Start Issuing Unit, PO Box 1067
Warrington, WA55 1EG.
You can also call the Helpline Healthy Start on 0345 607 6823 and ask for it to be sent by post.
You can also ask a midwife or health visitor for an application form. For assistance, please contact Citizens Advice Salford on 0808 27 87 802 or by phone
to your local office just go to the website here