Taking care of the eyes’ health is very important and it is not always easy to do. Every step in buying the prescription glasses is crucial: choosing quality frames and lenses and also paying attention to the costs and prescription. If you are an UK resident, the NHS offers help with sight tests and with the cost of prescription glasses and contact lenses.
• In order to be entitled to free NHS sight tests you have to fit one of the following categories:
– Get Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance or the guarantee credit part of Pension Credit. If you fit one of these conditions, your life partner and children are also entitled to free sight tests. Also, depending on what your income is, if you are getting Working Tax Credit and/or Child Tax Credit you may be entitled to free NHS sight tests.
– Be younger than 16 years old;
– Be a Scotland resident;
– Be 60 years old or over;
– Need complex lenses;
– Be registered partially sighted or blind;
– Have a metabolic disease such as diabetes or glaucoma;
– Be aged 40 or over and the parent or relative of a person with glaucoma;
– Be a war pensioner and need the sight test because of a disability for which you can get a war pension;
– Be a hospital patient and have an eye condition.
The people who are not in at least one of the above listed categories but are on a low income can also get help but towards the costs of a private sight test.
• Help with the cost of prescription glasses and lenses
You can be entitled to help with buying prescription eye wear if you are in one of the following categories:
– You are getting Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance or the guarantee credit part of Pension Credit. In these cases, your partner and children are also entitled to a voucher. Depending on your income, if you are getting Working Tax Credit and/or Child Tax Credit, you may also be entitled to help with the cost of prescription glasses and lenses;
– You are under 16;
– You are under 19 and still in full-time education;
– You need complex lenses;
– In England – if you are a prisoner on leave from prison;
– In England and Wales- if you are aged 16 or 17 and your local authority is financially maintaining you;
– In Wales – if you are under 16, or under 19 and in full-time education and suffering from a specific condition, you may be able to get help with the cost of an additional pair of glasses or contact lenses in the form of a voucher.
People who are entitled to help with the cost of prescription glasses or contact lenses will also get an NHS optical voucher. Even if you are not in one of the categories mentioned above, you may still be able to get help with the cost of prescription eye wear if you are on a low income.
Glasses 123 are an online opticians who specialize in cheap designer glasses and cheap designer, delivered to your home with a free trial.