Five Universal Credit freebies worth £3,286 people - how to get them

Kieran Isgin & Annabal Bagdi

25 June 2024 at 2:57 pm·3-min read

Parents claiming benefits including Universal Credit, Income Support, and Child Tax Credit could claim free perks. Many people may be unaware that they are eligible for freebies.

The perks could offer extra support at home. They include financial support to help provide a healthy and nutritional diet for your children and free childcare so you can continue working.

You could also be eligible for free meals for your child at school. Here's a breakdown of some of the extra support you could get as a parent claiming benefits.

Don't miss the biggest and breaking stories by signing up to the BirminghamLive newsletter here .

Free childcare

If you claim Universal Credit as a parent, you are eligible for extra help with your childcare costs. You can claim 85 per cent of your childcare expenses per month - up to £1,014 for one child and £1,739 for two more children.

Changes to the rules in June mean the childcare cost support is paid upfront instead of claimed back after you have already paid for childcare, Manchester Evening News reports.

Up to £442 worth of free food per year

Parents who have just had a child or are due to give birth soon can claim up to £442 worth of free food each year via the Healthy Start Scheme. In order to be eligible for the scheme, you must be either more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under the age of four.

Parents must also be claiming one of the following benefits:

Universal Credit with less than £408 a month of total income
Pension Credit
Income Support
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
Child Tax Credit alongside a family income of £16,190 or less a year

Parents under the age of 18 can apply for the scheme even if they are not claiming any benefits. Once you qualify, you will receive a card that can be used at a number of supermarkets and shops.

The card can only be used to buy certain products, such as vegetables, fruit, and milk.

Grant worth £500

Parents can claim up to £500 as a one-off payment via the Sure Start Maternity Grant. In order to qualify, you must be expecting your first child (or children if it's twins or more).

The grant can be claimed in an 11-week window prior to the baby's due date. Otherwise, it can be claimed up to six months after your baby is born.

Household Support Fund support

The Household Support Fund is a government scheme which allocates funds to councils to help residents with the cost of living. Some councils provide vouchers to help parents to pay for things such as food or energy bills.

But it is up to each council to decide what you can get and who qualifies. You should contact your local council to ask them about the Household Support Fund and whether you qualify for extra support.

Free School Meals

Parents claiming benefits can get their children a meals at school for free. This is automatically provided in years one and two but can be claimed after this. A parent must be claiming one of the following:

Income Support
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
The guaranteed element of Pension Credit
Child Tax Credit
Working Tax Credit
Universal Credit

The level of support provided through the free school meals scheme may vary depending on your council, school, or area. To see what level of support you can receive through this scheme, simply enter your postcode into the government website here.

HuffPost Life
The 1 Thing Flight Attendants Wish Passengers Would Stop Doing On Planes
For the sake of your own well-being and everyone around you, ditch this in-flight habit.
The Telegraph
The Netherlands stung savers with 100 per cent tax rates – and now owes them billions
The Netherlands is expected to pay billions of pounds in compensation to taxpayers after a divisive levy on investments and second homes was shot down by the Dutch Supreme Court.
The Telegraph
Le Pen threatens Britain’s economy, Bank of England warns
The looming French election poses a threat to global financial stability and the British economy, the Bank of England has warned.
The Telegraph
How to shield your savings from a Labour tax raid
Savers must act now to protect their wealth from the Government – and a possible incoming Labour administration.
The Telegraph
How the Bank of England could hand Starmer an £11bn windfall
Changes to the Bank of England’s bond-selling process could hand Sir Keir Starmer up to £11.6bn a year, economists have predicted.
The Telegraph
Investors have no idea how exposed they are to the next market crash
Before we read too much into Nvidia’s £400bn share price slide, let’s put it in context.
The Telegraph
‘New normal’ mortgage rate will be 4.5pc, says Lloyds
The boss of Britain’s biggest lender has said that mortgage rates will stick at a “new normal” of up to 4.5pc.
The Telegraph
Questor: This pharma giant’s multi-billion pound legal threat is making it a bargain buy
Questor relishes nothing more than the opportunity to purchase a high-quality company at a bargain-basement price.
BuzzFeed
"My Mom F****d My Best Friend's Dad": 19 Personal Stories Of People Impacted By Their Parents' Infidelity
"It's weird to say that an affair made all of our lives better but I think it did."
Fool.co.uk
1 FTSE 100 stock investors might shun, but I’d snap up in a heartbeat!
Some FTSE 100 stocks have fallen foul of investors. However, that doesn’t mean they’re not good investments for me and my holdings. The post 1 FTSE 100 stock investors might shun, but I’d snap up in a heartbeat! appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.
Fool.co.uk
Is the stock market about to crash? And what should I do next?
The Bank of England has warned a stock market crash could be coming. Is it time to sell up and hide, or should investors drive on? The post Is the stock market about to crash? And what should I do next? appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.
Good Housekeeping UK
6 mistakes you're making with your freezer
Freezers seem like straightforward appliances, but there’s still plenty of bad habits we can develop in their use.
Sky News
Nationwide customers face salary payment delays - as HSBC, Barclays and Virgin Money users hit by banking glitches
Nationwide, HSBC, Barclays and Virgin Money customers have been affected by problems with banking services, leaving some unable to send and receive money. HSBC UK said there had been a "separate payments issue affecting multiple banks", and Nationwide blamed a "third-party payments issue". Barclays also alerted customers, while Virgin Money said access to its app has been fully restored after issues in the morning - but there is a backlog of payments to process.
The Telegraph
How the Tories’ 14-year tax raid is finally being laid bare
The number of pensioners paying income tax has risen by 42pc since the Tories came to power, as the true cost of the Government’s stealth tax raid is laid bare.
Hello!
Declan Donnelly and wife Ali Astall pictured on rare date night away from kids Isla and Jack
Britain's Got Talent host Declan Donnelly and his wife Ali Astall, who share two children Isla and Jack, took the night off from parenting duties
Reuters
Russia's VTB bank says US sanctions have complicated cross-border transactions
U.S. sanctions imposed on Moscow this month have complicated the foreign trade operations of Russian banks, but they are gradually adapting to the new realities, the finance director of VTB, Russia's second-largest lender, said on Friday. On June 12, the U.S. imposed Ukraine-related sanctions on the Moscow Exchange, which stopped trading in currency pairs with the dollar and euro. The sanctions package also targeted China-based companies selling semiconductors to Moscow, and the U.S. Treasury said it was raising "the risk of secondary sanctions for foreign financial institutions that deal with Russia's war economy," effectively threatening them with losing access to the U.S. financial system.
Reuters
Lloyds CEO expects $380 million UK business banking revenue boost
Lloyds Banking Group is set to make an extra 300 million pounds ($380 million) a year in revenue by 2026 from its business banking unit, CEO Charlie Nunn said on Thursday, as corporate confidence picks up in Britain despite challenges. The British bank's Business and Commercial Banking (BCB) unit, which serves firms with up to 100 million pounds in turnover, will have reached two thirds of the target by the end of this year, Nunn told analysts in a presentation. That has come from cross-selling more products to customers and digitising services, BCB head Elyn Corfield said.
Reuters
Bank of England likely to cut rates in August, former MPC member says
The Bank of England is likely to cut interest rates soon, "probably in August", as long as inflation and wage data align with the Monetary Policy Committee's (MPC) May forecasts, a former MPC member said on Thursday. "They have clearly signalled they are willing to cut soon if data are okay," Michael Saunders, an MPC member at the Bank of England (BoE) between 2016 and 2022, told the Reuters Global Markets Forum (GMF).
Evening Standard
Race out of recession picks up speed but house prices fall as mortgage time bomb ticks
Growth revised higher for the first quarter but millions face end of fixed-rate deals
The Conversation
If Rachel Reeves hikes capital gains tax, she’ll be more in line with Nigel Lawson than Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown’s reforms to CGT encouraged stock market speculators and private equity asset strippers, while it was the Thatcher government that brought rates into line with income tax.

Free childcare

Up to £442 worth of free food per year

Grant worth £500

Household Support Fund support

Free School Meals

Latest stories