Financial help for parents | What benefits can I claim as a parent?

What financial help can parents apply for?  Every day parents are faced with the challenge of meeting costs linked to raising children. For parents wanting to know what financial help is available from the government, this article highlights the financial benefits available for parents.

What benefits are available for parents expecting a baby?

Can I claim Healthy Start?

The Healthy Start Scheme helps parents with children under four years old, by helping pay for healthy food and milk.

If you’re eligible, you’ll be sent a Healthy Start card with money on it to use in certain UK shops. You can use your card to buy plain liquid cow’s milk, fruit and vegetables, pulses and infant formula milk.

You can also use your card to collect vitamin drops for babies and young children.

Other financial help for expecting parents and those with newborns include:

• Maternity pay and leave
• Paternity pay and leave
• Maternity Allowance
• Shared Parental Leave and Pay
• Neonatal Care Pay and Leave 
• Sure Start Maternity Grant

Can I claim Child benefit?

You are entitled to child benefit,  if you’re responsible for a child who is under 16 (or under 20 if they stay in approved education and training).

Child benefit in 2025/26 is £26.05 a week for the first child. It is £17.25 for each additional child.

There’s no limit to how many children you can claim child benefit for.

Can I claim Universal Credit?

You may be eligible for Universal Credit to help with living costs, if you are a low-income family.

If you’re unemployed, off work due to sickness, or have a low income, and have less than £16,000 in savings, you could be entitled to Universal Credit.

You can receive an extra payment of Universal Credit for up to two children living with you.

In 2025/26, for your first child (born before 6 April), you will get £339 a month. For a first born (born on or after 6 April 2017) or second child, you will get £292.81 a month.

What financial help can I get with childcare costs?

All three and four year olds in England can get 15 hours free childcare a week, regardless of income.

Since September 2025, all eligible working parents of children aged under five in England have been able to claim 30 hours free childcare. These hours are for 38 weeks a year, not 52.

In Scotland, all three and four-year-olds and some eligible two-year-olds are entitled to 30 free childcare hours a week.

In Wales, every three and four-year-old is entitled to at least 10 free childcare hours. Working parents of three and four-year-olds can have an additional 20 hours per week.

You can also get benefits such as Tax-Free childcare. This benefit helps eligible parents get up to £500 every 3 months (up to £2,000 a year) for each of your children to help with the costs of childcare. This goes up to £1,000 every 3 months if a child is disabled (up to £4,000 a year).

You can read more about government ‘funded childcare’ in this article financial help with childcare costs.

Can my child get free school meals?

Your child may be able to get free school meals if you get certain benefits. You can check if your child is eligible for free school meals in England and how to apply via your local authority’s website.

You may also be eligible for food vouchers from the Household Support Fund. 

If you live elsewhere in the UK, check if your child is eligible for:

• free school meals in Wales 

• free school meals in Scotland

• free school meals in Northern Ireland

Can I get help with school uniform costs?

You could be entitled to up to £200 toward the cost of your child’s school uniform and shoes. Whether a school uniform grant is available and how much it is depends on where you live in the UK.

• England: Not all English councils offer a school uniform grant. Of those that do, the grant amount varies depending on which local authority you live in. Contact your local council to find out if they offer the grant, how much you can receive and how to apply for it. To be eligible you must be on a low income, claim benefits or receive free school meals.  

• Wales: The School Essentials Grant means parents can benefit from up to £200 in Wales towards school costs including school uniform, school bags, stationary, uniform for scouts, guides, cadets, martial arts, performing arts. Children must be eligible for means-tested Free School Meals. Children in local authority care qualify for the grant.  Parents can claim once per child per school year and receive £125 per child (below year 7) or £200 for children entering year 7.  

• Northern Ireland: The Clothing Allowance Scheme’s eligibility criteria is similar to qualifying for free school meals. A uniform grant is £42.90 for a primary school pupil, £61.20 for a post primary/special school pupil under 15, £67.20 for a post primary/special school pupil over 15 and £26.40 for a post primary/special school pupil P.E. kit.  

• Scotland: The ‘school clothing grant’ of £120 per child of primary school age and £150 per child of secondary school age. Contact your council to apply for the grant and see when you need to apply.  

Can I claim Scotland’s Best Start Grant School Age Payment?

In Scotland, you may also be eligible for a claim a Best Start Grant School Age Payment.

The School Age Payment is £319.80 per child towards the cost of a child starting primary school such as clothes, school trips and stationery.

To be eligible, you must live in Scotland, have a child who is the right age, be the main person caring for the child and get certain benefits or payments.

You will receive School Age Payment automatically, (if you get Scottish Child Payment for your child who is the right age).

Can I claim the Scottish Child Payment?

Scottish Child Payment provides financial support to help parents. It is a weekly payment, worth £27.15 for every eligible child under 16.

Best Start Family Hubs

Best Start Family Hubs are opening up across England to help all parents access a wide range of support from early years activities and classes to advice on topics such as parenting, debt, health, youth services and substance misuse.

Hubs offer family support from pregnancy to transition to adulthood at 19 (or 25 years old for young people with SEND).

What benefits are available to single parents?

Benefits for parents include council tax discounts, cold weather payments etc.

What financial support is available for separated parents?

Can I get child maintenance service payments?

Child maintenance payments help cover a child’s living costs if one parent does not live with the child. It is in place for children who have a right to live in UK and are aged under 16 (or 20 if in approved education/training).

The parents or the Child Maintenance Service can help determine and arrange for the amount to be paid by the parent who does not live with the child. Payments will not affect any benefits that you and your children get and you do not pay tax on them.  

What help for parents is available if you have a disabled child?

If your child has a disability, you may get an extra payment of Universal Credit, if any of your children are disabled, regardless of how many children you have. The amount depends on your child’s disability and the benefits your child receives.

You’ll get £158.76, if you get the lower rate or £495.87 if you get the higher rate.

You may be able to get financial help, for example money towards travel to hospital, care at home, home adaptations if you contact your council to request a ‘needs assessment.’

If your child qualifies for council assistance, you may get direct payments to cover your child’s needs.

If you’re raising a disabled or seriously ill child, you may be eligible for a Family Fund grant. This can help pay for things like clothing, toys, and family breaks/days out.  

What financial help can a parent who is a student get?

Can I claim Parents’ Learning Allowance?

You may be eligible for Parents’ Learning Allowance which offers financial assistance with your learning costs if you are a full-time student with children. The allowance does not have to be paid back and will not affect your benefits or tax credit.

Depending on your household income, in the 2025/26 academic year, you could get between £50 and £2,024 a year. For details of benefits for parents who are students, such as Scotland’s Lone Parents Grant, you can check out help with childcare costs for students 2025.  

What financial support is available for widowed parents?

What’s a Bereavement Support Payment?

A Bereavement Support Payment is the main benefit available to you as a parent, if your spouse, civil partner, or partner that you lived with and had children with, died before you reached state pension age.

It is typically a one-off payment of either £3,500 or £2,500 followed by up to 18 monthly payments.  You can read more about this in this article What bereavement benefits can a widowed parent get.  

Can I claim Guardian’s Allowance?

You could get Guardian’s Allowance if you are bringing up a child whose parents have died, or you do not know where the sole surviving parent is or the sole parent is in prison. 

The Guardian’s Allowance rate is £22.10 a week, tax-free.

Can I claim Specified Adult Childcare Credit?

If you are a grandparent caring for a grandchild that is aged under 12 years-old, you may be entitled to Specified Adult Childcare Credit.

This allows grandparents caring for their grandchildren to earn National Insurance credits which contribute towards their State Pension. To be eligible, you as main guardian of the child will need to be working and under State Pension age.

You can read more in this article about benefits for grandparents caring for grandchildren.