What is Healthy Start?
Healthy Start provides vouchers/payments which can be spent on fresh, frozen or tinned fruit and vegetables; cow’s milk; infant formula milk and fresh, dried and tinned pulses. Vitamins are also available. It is open to people who are pregnant or have children under 4 years old and are receiving certain benefits. To check eligibility and for details on how to apply visit https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/how-to-apply/
You may have heard that Healthy Start is changing. The scheme is being digitised and the paper vouchers will be replaced with a prepaid card which will be topped up every 4 weeks. Current Healthy Start beneficiaries will be sent a letter inviting them to reapply online for the prepaid card. Letters are expected to be sent out during autumn 2021. The paper voucher scheme will be coming to an end so it is really important that people reapply online, when invited to, if they still want to receive their Healthy Start payments. Click here for a printable doc for professionals.
There are many benefits to moving to a digital scheme. The new online application process will be much quicker and simpler than the paper application form and will give a decision within a few minutes. The prepaid cards can be used in any retailer which has a chip and pin machine, displays the Mastercard ® logo and sells Healthy Start food items (milk, infant formula, fruit and vegetables). Payment will automatically be added to the card every 4 weeks so there is no need to wait for vouchers to arrive in the post.
What can I do in my setting?
Remember to promote Healthy Start (including promoting Healthy Start vitamins*) to your families as this forms part of your Startwell Award criteria. You can share the Healthy Start poster with your families via email, newsletter, electronic learning journals and social media as well as on display boards. For more information on Healthy Start Scheme visit https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/
For information on Birmingham Healthy Start vitamins which are free for all children under 4 years old and pregnant people up until their child is 12 months old, who are registered with a Birmingham GP, click here.
