Parents can apply for a new prepaid card to help with their grocery bills if they have young children and are on a low income.
Families that qualify for the Healthy Start scheme used to get one or two vouchers per week, per child, but they way you receive the money changed from February 1.
Parents will now be given a prepaid card instead of paper vouchers, which will be topped up automatically every four weeks.
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The card will be valid at any shop that accepts Mastercard and sells eligible healthy start food items such as fruit, vegetables and vitamins.
Any money that you don't spend will remain on the card and can be put toward healthy food in the future.
This is unlike the old voucher scheme where you had to spend at least £4.25 in one transaction.
You can check your balance at ATMs and your payment will automatically added - meaning you won't have to wait for vouchers to arrive in the post.
If you're already signed up for Healthy Start vouchers, you should have already been contacted with details on how to apply for a card and you must use any of the old-style paper vouchers you still have by March 31.
In total, 143,458 people have already switched since the rollout began in September last year.
You can't opt to continue receiving paper coupons - if you don't switch to the online system by March 31 this year you will stop receiving the cash boost.
You'll still be able to sign up after that date but your payments could be delayed or disrupted.
The vouchers are currently worth £4.25 each and if you have a baby under one year old, you'll get two vouchers every week.
That means in the first year of your child's life you could get £442.
Pregnant women get one voucher a week, and parents also get one voucher for each child between one and four.
That means they would get at least £221 in a year.
To qualify for the voucher scheme you need to be more than 10 weeks pregnant or have at least one child under four.
You also need to receive one of the following benefits:
- Income Support
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Child Tax Credit with a family income of £16,190 or less per year
- Pension Credit
- Universal Credit with no earned income or total earned income of £408 or less per month for the family.
But if you are under 18 and pregnant you can get the prepaid card, even if you don’t get any of those benefits.
Footballer and campaigner against child food poverty Marcus Rashford MBE has urged families to claim the cash, and has previously described the stigma attached to seeking help like Healthy Start vouchers as "the most silly thing I've ever heard".
He said: "This was one of our Taskforce’s key asks and will make a huge difference to the most vulnerable people in our communities."
To apply for the Healthy Start card, you just need to go to the NHS Healthy Start website. If you cannot make an application online you can call the Healthy Start helpline on 0300 330 7010.
Once you've applied online, you should receive your card within five to 10 working days.
