Healthy Start supports pregnant women and their families to eat well and get the vitamins they need for healthy development. If you are 10 weeks or more pregnant or have a family with children under 4 years old, you might be able to get help to buy healthy food and milk in many shops across Sefton with a Healthy Start card.
Healthy Start can be used to buy:
- plain liquid cow’s milk
- infant formula milk based on cow’s milk
- fresh, frozen or tinned fruit and vegetables
- fresh, dried and tinned pulses
You can use your card in most places that sell milk, infant formula, fruit and vegetables. This includes:
- supermarkets
- convenience stores
- grocery stores
- pharmacies
Or anywhere accepting payment by Mastercard®
You can also use your card to collect Healthy Start vitamins however these are available to every pregnant woman and new mothers during the baby’s first year.
You do not need a Healthy Start card to get the vitamins in Sefton.
Vitamin drops for babies and young children are available for children up to age 4.
Taking vitamins during pregnancy can support a mother’s health but it is also important to support healthy growth of the baby. During the early years of a child’s life, vitamins can support their growth and development as well as preventing certain diseases as young children and babies may not get enough vitamin A and D even if they’re eating well. If you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, you may not get enough vitamin C, vitamin D or folic acid.
Free vitamins are available at various collection points across Sefton and from your Health Visitor.
All Family Wellbeing Centres and May Logan. Also given out through home visits through Health Visitors.
If you’re doing a shop with other items, some shops might ask you to separate out the Healthy Start items and pay for them separately with the Healthy Start card. Just ask if you can split payments between your Healthy Start card and your normal bank card or cash.
Don’t worry if you make a mistake when using your Healthy Start card to buy other shopping. It will not affect your benefit payments.
The Healthy Start card can’t be used for online shopping, the Healthy Start card can be used in any shop which accepts Mastercard® to buy healthy food and milk.
Don’t worry if you don’t use the card every week, it doesn’t get wasted as you can do small weekly shops or a bigger shop once a month.
Make sure you use your card at least once every 16 weeks or your payments may be stopped.
The Healthy Start scheme will not affect universal credit payments and or any other state benefits.
It will not affect immigration status.
If you’re receiving a qualifying benefit and are more than 10 weeks pregnant or have parental responsibility for at least one child under the age of 4, you can apply.
If you’re under 18 and more than 10 weeks pregnant, you qualify for Healthy Start until your baby is born. You do not need to receive any of the qualifying benefits or be getting tax credits.
Once you have successfully applied and your eligibility is confirmed, you become a beneficiary of the NHS Healthy Start scheme.
NHS Healthy Start prepaid card, which will be topped up every 4 weeks with payments of:
- £4.25 for each week of your pregnancy from 10 weeks
- £8.50 each week for children from birth to one year old
- £4.25 each week for children aged between one and 4 years old
*The amount will increase in April 2026
Images of online application:
- Applying for Healthy Start can be done online, by email or by phone, you’ll need your National Insurance number to do this and your benefit award letter. Make sure you enter the exact details shown on your benefit award letter.
- You can talk about Healthy Start with your Health Visitor who can offer advice on how to apply or if you need some help in completing the application, then Citizens Advice Sefton are there to help you do this.
For more information and to apply to the NHS Healthy Start scheme, visit the Healthy Start website or call us on 0300 330 7010.