Iceland is giving free frozen veg to families on Universal Credit - here's how to get yours

9 September 2020, 14:36

If your family receives Healthy Start vouchers, you could be getting a freebie from Iceland from September 11.

Iceland is giving families who receive Government-issued Healthy Start vouchers a bag of free frozen veg.

It means that the supermarket will effectively be bumping up the value of the vouchers from £3.10 to £4.10, freeing up a quid to be spent on other eligible items like milk, infant formula and other fresh or frozen fruit and veg.

The initiative will potentially help thousands of families who are signed up to the scheme, and starts in store from September 11.

In order to be eligible for the vouchers, you need to be at least 10 weeks pregnant and/or have a child under four, and be (as an individual or as part of a family) in receipt of:

- 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

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Iceland’s generous move comes months after footballer Marcus Rashford challenged the Government to raise the weekly voucher value to £4.25.

He’s pleased with the frozen food giant’s idea, saying: “My hope on forming the Child Food Poverty Task Force was that it would ignite conversation relating to the issue - why is this happening? How is this happening? And, are we really doing everything we can to help?

"Iceland's new initiative grew out of that conversation and it really shows how the simplest step can have impact.”

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The vouchers can be spent on cow’s milk, plain fresh and frozen vegetables, and infant formula milk, and it’s also possible to claim free vitamins.

As well as Iceland, Healthy Start vouchers can only be used in one of the 21,000 retailers that are registered with the Healthy Start scheme, they can’t be used online.

You can check here which shops in your area are registered.

The vouchers are sent out every month, and have a twelve-week expiry date.

In order to qualify for Iceland’s free veg, you need to spend the full £3.10 voucher in store, with the bag of vegtable’s £1 value being deducted at the check-out.