Sure Start Maternity Grant: Who Gets £500 and How to Claim

Usually, you must have no other children under 16, and you or your partner must get one of these benefits:

• ✓Yes: Universal Credit
• ✓Yes: Pension Credit
• ✓Yes: income-related Employment and Support Allowance

You may also qualify if you are getting a Support for Mortgage Interest loan. The grant will not affect your other benefits. If you are more than 10 weeks pregnant and get Universal Credit, you may also be able to get Healthy Start payments for milk, fruit and vegetables.

You may not get a grant if you already have children. If you or your partner get one of the benefits above, you may still get one if:

• ✓Yes: you are expecting a multiple birth, such as twins
• ✓Yes: the child you care for is someone else's (but not your partner's) and was over 12 months old when the arrangement started
• ✓Yes: you have refugee status or humanitarian protection, or you have come to the UK from Afghanistan or Ukraine
• ✓Yes: you are claiming for a family member who is under 16, or 16 to 19 and in approved education or training

For twins and triplets, the amount depends on the children you already have:

If you have refugee status or humanitarian protection, or you left Afghanistan after the collapse of the Afghan government on 15 August 2021, or left Ukraine after the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022 having lived there immediately before 1 January 2022, you can get a grant for your first child born in the UK.

You may be able to get a grant if you are adopting or becoming a surrogate parent. The baby must be less than 1 year old on the date you claim, you must get one of the benefits above, and one of these must apply:

• ✓Yes: you have become responsible for the baby and you are not the mother
• ✓Yes: the baby has been placed with you for adoption
• ✓Yes: you have permission to adopt a baby from abroad
• ✓Yes: you have a parental order for a surrogate birth
• ✓Yes: you have been appointed as guardian
• ✓Yes: you have an adoption or a residence order

You can claim from 11 weeks before the week your baby is due. The latest you can claim is 6 months after your baby is born. If you are becoming responsible for a child, for example through adoption, you must claim within 6 months of that happening.

The Sure Start Maternity Grant helpline is 0800 169 0140, Monday to Friday, 10am to 3pm. For Welsh, call 0800 169 0240. If you disagree with a decision, you can ask for a mandatory reconsideration.

Scotland. You cannot get a Sure Start Maternity Grant. Social Security Scotland pays a Pregnancy and Baby Payment of £796.65 for your first child and £398.35 for any child after your first. You can get it from the end of the 24th week of pregnancy until the day your baby is 6 months old. Normally you or your partner need to get Universal Credit, Housing Benefit, Income Support, Pension Credit, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance or income-related Employment and Support Allowance.

Northern Ireland. The grant is also £500, with the same amounts for twins and triplets, and you claim on form SF100 (Sure Start) from the Department for Communities. You may also get a grant if a dependant of yours who is under 20, and who you get benefit for, is expecting their first child. If you have made a Universal Credit claim, you will not get a decision on the grant until your Universal Credit claim has been processed.

Our Maternity Allowance guide covers pay while you are off work, and our benefits guides list the rest.