Does your business qualify for Healthy Start?
If you’re a retailer, this page provides information and advice about joining and operating the Healthy Start scheme.
We are currently working on a digital version of the scheme, this means that eventually Healthy Start vouchers will no longer be printed and replaced with a Healthy Start card.
Once the scheme is fully rolled out, you will no longer need to register your business to accept vouchers.
You will need to have a card payment facility allowing chip and pin, or contactless payments to be part of the new scheme.
You can join Healthy Start if you:
- sell any of the foods that are included in the scheme
- have not in the past been disqualified from Healthy Start, or the former Welfare Food (milk token) scheme
We want retailers to take part in Healthy Start if they sell:
- plain cow’s milk – whole, semi-skimmed or skimmed. It can be pasteurised, sterilised long-life or UHT
- fresh, frozen and tinned fruit and vegetables including loose, pre-packed, whole, sliced, chopped or mixed fruit or vegetables, fruit in fruit juice, or fruit or vegetables in water, but not those to which fat, salt, sugar or flavouring have been added
- cow’s milk-based infant formula milk. This must be labelled as suitable for use from birth and satisfy, by itself, an infant’s nutritional needs.
- fresh, dried and tinned pulses, including but not limited to lentils, beans, peas and chickpeas but not those to which fat, salt, sugar or flavouring have been added
If you’re a retailer wanting to take part in the Healthy Start Scheme with vouchers
Many different kinds of businesses can register for Healthy Start, including grocers, milkmen, food co-operatives, newsagents, box schemes, market stalls and supermarkets. As long as your business sells one or more of the Healthy Start foods, you can register to take part.
How to register
- Download and complete the online application form (opens in a new tab).
- Once you have completed the application form you must then print and sign it.
- Send it to us at:
Freepost RRTR-SYAE-JKCR
Barberton House
Farndon Road
MARKET HARBOROUGH
LE16 9NR
We can only register you if you send us a signed application form.
Once you have been accepted to join the scheme, we will send you a registration pack.
The pack contains a:
- supplier guide
- window sticker
- quick reference guide
- claim/remittance form

Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions that people may have about the Healthy Start scheme