Welfare and financial support

Free childcare

You may be able to apply for free childcare if you're working. You can apply when your child is two years and 36 weeks for 30 hours of childcare.

Find out more from the Childcare Choices webpages.

Healthy Start  

If you’re more than ten weeks pregnant or have a child under four, you may be entitled to get help to buy healthy food and milk. 

If you’re eligible, you’ll be sent a Healthy Start card with money on it that you can use in some UK shops. We’ll add your benefit onto this card every four weeks. 

You can use your card to buy: 

• Plain liquid cow’s milk 

• Fresh, frozen, and tinned fruit and vegetables 

• Fresh, dried, and tinned pulses 

• Infant formula milk based on cow’s milk 

You can also use your card to collect: 

• Healthy Start vitamins – these support you during pregnancy and breastfeeding 

• Vitamin drops for babies and young children – these are suitable from birth to four years old 

Visit the Healthy Start website for more information, or ask your midwife or health visitor.