Thousands are missing out on £34 a month free help for food costs – how to claim

4 weeks ago admin

If you're pregnant or have a child under the age of four years and you're on a low income then you may be able to claim free money to help with food costs.

The free cash comes through the NHS Healthy Start scheme which can give you a prepaid card offering between £4.25 and £8.50 a week, or between £17 and £34 a month, to spend on your food shop.

However, you will only be able to buy things such as fruit, vegetables, dairy milk infant formula and vitamins.

Once you have applied and been accepted, your payment card, which is sent out to you, will be topped up every four weeks.

You can apply for the scheme on the NHS website.

Martin Lewis asked by dad earning £30,000 if being on benefits 'would be better'

Who's eligible for the Healthy Start Scheme?

The Healthy Start Scheme is available to those living in England, Northern Ireland and Wales and you have to be more than 10 weeks pregnant to access the help or have a child under the age of for years.

To get the help you will also need to be claiming at least one of the following benefits:

Child tax credit – only if your annual family income is £16,190 or less
Income support
Income-based jobseeker's allowance
Pension credit – but only if you get the child element
Universal credit – if your family earns £408 or less a month in take-home pay from employment

You can also apply if you are under 18 years and pregnant, even if you're not claiming any benefits, or you claim income-related employment and support allowance (ESA) and you're over 10 weeks pregnant.

If you live in Scotland, you can claim through the Best Start Foods scheme which has similar but slightly different eligibility criteria.

In Scotland, you can claim if you're pregnant or have a child under three years old.

Job experts say Brits miss out on clever trick to bag promotion that Americans swear by

How much can you get from it?

Those eligible for the scheme In England, Wales and Northern Ireland can get:

£4.25 a week for each week of pregnancy from the 10th week
£8.50 a week for each child aged up to one year old
£4.25 a week for each child between one and four years old

In Scotland, the amount you get paid depends on the age of your child.

These payments are:

£18 every four weeks during pregnancy
£36 every four weeks from your child being born up until they're one year old
£18 every four weeks when your child is between the ages of one and three years old

With pregnancies, the Scottish Government says the payment is the "amount per pregnancy" which means the money you get is the same whether you're pregnant with one baby, or if you are having twins or triplets.