Healthy Start weekly payments rise to £4.65 and £9.30 and application rules updated

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) updated its Healthy Start extension application guidance on 24 September 2026, setting out higher weekly payment amounts and revised rules on who can apply and what evidence is accepted¹. The guidance covers the extended scheme, which is open to British children under four whose parent or guardian meets the financial eligibility criteria and is either subject to a no recourse to public funds (NRPF) condition attached to their immigration permission, or has no immigration status¹.

The update states that Healthy Start weekly payments for eligible families have risen to £4.65 per child under four and £9.30 per child under one¹. The guidance also confirms that only supporting organisations, not individuals, can apply on someone's behalf, and that if all requested documents are submitted within 16 weeks of the initial contact, the payment will be backdated to that date¹.

The 24 September 2026 update also changed the evidence sections. The "Evidence for NRPF" section was updated to remove visa and biometric residence permit, while the "Evidence for no immigration status" section now reflects that both methods of accepted evidence are needed, and the "Evidence for earned income" section adds "evidence for no immigration status" as an accepted method of evidence¹. Earlier updates recorded on the same page include 16 October 2025, when the definition of an eVisa in the "Evidence for NRPF" section was updated, and 30 May 2025, when the guidance noted that the extension scheme is now managed by the NHS Business Services Authority on behalf of DHSC¹. The guidance was first published on 31 July 2024¹.

"Updated to reflect that Healthy Start weekly payments for eligible families have risen to £4.65 per child under 4 and £9.30 per child under one"

GOV.UK, Healthy Start extension: application guidance¹

The payment amounts in the September 2026 guidance are higher than those recorded in a January 2025 Which? policy report, which said the standard weekly payment had last been increased in April 2021 to £4.25, with £8.50 a week for children aged 0 to 1². That report estimated the average price of recommended Healthy Start foods had risen by 31.3% between April 2021 and November 2024, and calculated that payments would need to rise from £4.25 to £5.58 a week, and from £8.50 to £11.16 for the higher rate, to keep their value². The report also noted that the comparable Scottish scheme, Best Start Foods, was uplifted in April 2024 from £4.95 to £5.30 a week². The sources do not state the date the new £4.65 and £9.30 amounts took effect, beyond the 24 September 2026 guidance update¹.

Why it matters for households

The guidance sets the weekly amounts paid to eligible families under the extended scheme at £4.65 per child under four and £9.30 per child under one, as recorded in the 24 September 2026 update¹. Families applying through the extended criteria face a defined evidence process: applications must come from a supporting organisation rather than the individual, and backdating to the date of initial contact depends on all requested documents being submitted within 16 weeks¹. The evidence rules changed on 24 September 2026, with the NRPF section no longer listing visa and biometric residence permit, and the no immigration status section now requiring both accepted methods of evidence¹. The scheme is managed by the NHS Business Services Authority on behalf of DHSC, according to the 30 May 2025 update¹. The Healthy Start guide sets out the wider scheme, and the benefits hub covers related support. For Scotland, the separate Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods scheme applies².