Healthy Start and Eligiblity (UC)

I’d just supported a family (newly granted refugee status) to apply for UC and advised them to apply for Healthy Start.  The online system didn’t recognise them, presumably as too early/entitlement not approved.  I emailed to NHSBSA to ask when they could apply as I couldn’t find any clarity on this point and they advised that “Applicants would need to have received their first two payments from Universal Credit before they can apply.”

Has anyone looked into this? It doesn’t seem right to me as I don’t think the payments can be backdated.

Many thanks

This is (I think) the relevant amendment to the 2005 Healthy Start regs:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/985/made

Seems like you should be able to rely on either of the last 2 assessment periods, not that you need them both. The explanatory note puts it:

Where entitlement to benefit is dependent on a person being entitled to universal credit, the amendment at regulation 2(8) provides that the person entitled to universal credit must have earned income of £408 or less (or, if the person is one of joint claimants, the joint claimants have combined earned income of £408 or less) in either the most recent complete assessment period or the assessment period immediately preceding that. Further, a person who is entitled to benefit by virtue of satisfying this financial condition in relation to the assessment period preceding the most recent complete assessment period ceases to be entitled to benefit after 8 weeks.

Thank you. This is still a bugbear of mine!  They are still refusing applications for people who haven’t recieved two payments from Unviersal Credit.  They weren’t able to point me to anywhere on their website where they explain this, and many applicants are confused about why their applications are rejected.  I agree that the position is wrong.  I am going to put in a complaint and ask to have it addressed by the policy lead.  I’ll also do an FOI for the policy which this statement is based on “Applicants would need to have received their first two payments from Universal Credit before they can apply.”