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Healthy Start, Best Start and maternity help

Money for healthy food and free vitamins if you're pregnant or have a young child and are on a low income, plus the one-off grants for a new baby.

£4.65a week in pregnancy

£9.30a week per baby under 1

£4.65a week per child aged 1 to 4

£500Sure Start Maternity Grant

Healthy Start (England, Wales and Northern Ireland)

You get a prepaid card, topped up every 4 weeks, to spend on plain cow's milk, fruit and vegetables (fresh, frozen or tinned), pulses and first infant formula. You also get free Healthy Start vitamins.

Who qualifies

You're more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under 4, and one of these applies:

you get Universal Credit and your family's take-home pay from work is £408 a month or less;
you get Pension Credit that includes the child addition;
you're under 18 and pregnant (no benefit needed until the baby is born).

Some older benefits also count. Families who can't claim public funds may qualify if they have a British child under 4 and earn £408 a month or less.

Who	Per week
Pregnancy, from week 10	£4.65
Each child from birth to 1	£9.30
Each child aged 1 to 4	£4.65

Apply on the NHS Healthy Start website. Make sure all your children are named and verified on your Universal Credit claim, or payments can stop.

Best Start Foods (Scotland)

Scotland has its own, more generous scheme, paid every 4 weeks on a card until a child is 3.

Who	Every 4 weeks
Pregnancy	£22.40
Each child from birth to 1	£44.80
Each child aged 1 to 3	£22.40

Grants for a new baby

Sure Start Maternity Grant (England, Wales, NI): a one-off £500 for your first child, or for a multiple birth, if you get a qualifying benefit like Universal Credit or Pension Credit. Claim from 11 weeks before the due date to 6 months after. GOV.UK · nidirect
Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payment (Scotland): £796.65 for your first child and £398.35 for each later child. There's also an Early Learning Payment and a School Age Payment of £331.95 each. mygov.scot

Maternity pay

Employees usually get Statutory Maternity Pay: 90% of average pay for 6 weeks, then £194.32 a week (or 90% if lower) for 33 weeks. If you don't qualify, or you're self-employed, Maternity Allowance pays up to £194.32 a week for up to 39 weeks.

Sources

Every figure on this page is copied from these official pages, for April 2026 to March 2027 (checked 3 November 2026):

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This is a guide, not advice. The office that runs each benefit decides who gets it. Rules can change.