Healthy Start Scheme - England, Wales, Northern Ireland - Am I eligible for Healthy Start Scheme?

You can get help from Healthy Start Scheme and vitamins if you are more than ten weeks pregnant, or have a child under four, and you are getting:

• Income Support
• income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
• Child Tax Credit if your family's annual income is £16,190 or less, and not getting Working Tax Credit.
• Universal Credit if your family's monthly earned income is £408 or less from employment. 
• Pension Credit

If you are getting Working Tax Credit, you could get help from Healthy Start Scheme, but only if you are receiving Working Tax Credit run-on. This is the payment you can get in the four weeks after you have stopped working enough hours to qualify for Working Tax Credit.

You also qualify for Healthy Start Scheme if you are not getting one of these benefits yourself but:

• You are under 18 and more than ten weeks pregnant, or
• You live with your partner and your partner gets the benefit, or 
• You are the dependent child of someone who is getting the benefit, or
• You have a British citizen child aged under 4, have no recourse to public funds, and your household has earnings of less than £408 per month.

Once you have had your baby, you can still get help from Healthy Start Scheme and vitamins for any child up to the age of 4, as long as you still meet one of the conditions listed above.