sports glasses

treasure-hunt

wondering if there is any help out there??
i will try to explain this as best as possible
my 7 year old son loves playing football, he joined a club about a year or so ago, they told me that i had to get a pair of specially made football glasses for safety reasons (and insurance etc)
as he was getting his nhs prescriptions from the eye hospital i mentioned this to them when he had his apointment the optician there agreed and gave me a higher rate voucher towards his glasses, the local opticians refused to give me them with this voucher and i had to speek with the head of nhs vouchers at the eye hospital - we sorted this out and i was able to have quite a bit of his glasses (not all i had to still pay quite a bit) this head of the nhs voucher made it quite clear that this was a one off voucher and not to be repeated.
now this was just over a year ago and these glasses no longer fit him and are starting to hurt him when they are on so i need to buy another pair.
these glasses are from £100+
i am a single mum (no not asking for sympathy just the way things are) i am on income support because i am also a full time carer for my mum
money is very tight
because these are childrens glasses i thought i should be able to get a voucher for them but no i can either have a voucher for his everyday glasses (which will need changing soon) or use it towards his sports glasses which will take about £30 off
does anyone know of any scheme or anything which will help towards the cost of these glasses
i am sorry this is such a long question but i really wanted to try and explain things
i really hope you can help me!!!

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi

We have had similar problems.

Our DD is registered blind, she is 10. As her vision is so poor she is entitled to 2 pairs of glasses per year at the higher rate voucher, but we still have to pay an extra £30 each time for them to be thinned again. They do come thinned but as they are such strong perscriptions they still look very thick so we pay the extra and have them thinned further. Receive 50% back through HSA though.

Our DD has always liked swimming and we had to pay for a special pair of gogles that had her perscription in them and we received no help at all. Luckily, I could claim back 50% from HSA, but as they were £250, I still had to shed out £125 but thought it was worth it so she could continue her swimming. We had no money at the time, but I paid with my credit card and paid them back over 5 months. You were lucky that they gave you a voucher towards these safety glasses, as with the gogles, we were told they were unnessary and she didnt have to go swimming, it was our choice to take her IYKWIM.

Most children/adults are only entitled to one NHS voucher every 2 years.

If you are on Income Support, I think your best way forward is to apply for a budgeting loan to cover the costs of the glasses. We are now on Income Support as Im disabled and unable to work and when DD's need to replaced which will be next year sometime, thats what I will do.

Probably not the answer your after, but will be keeping an eye on this thread.

PP
xx

treasure-hunt

i recently had a budgeting loan for other items that were needed so i am unable to get that.
the thing is i argued with the head of nhs vouchers, my argument being is that the government tells you that your child should be playing sports etc and i think at the time the government were saying about out of school clubs being good for kids so
the government says my son should play sports
he has found a sport he likes
the club (and other clubs) have said he needs sports glasses
i thought all children were given a pair of free glasses for what is needed so i should be given a pair of sports glasses as these are needed
that was my arguement and this went on for a while before he gave me the voucher ( i dont know if was because of the arguement or just to shut me up!!)

treasure-hunt

what is hsa?
how do you claim 50% back from them

Savvy_Sue

hsa is private health insurance.

Is there any way the glasses could be adapted to make them more comfortable? I'm not a specs wearer myself, and neither are the kids, but I have seen the optician warm and reshape frames while I've been in there.

It does seem ridiculous to only get one special voucher ever for a growing child!

Since he's under the eye hospital, is there anyone like the RNIB who could help or advise you? Don't know his precise eye condition, but that's a thought ...

Does the football club have any special funds they can draw on so that disadvantaged children can still take part?

Random thoughts ... hope one of them might help!

treasure-hunt

he is no longer with the hospital so no joy there and the football club is a fairly new one and doesnt have much funds although they have offered £10-£15 which i thought was really good of them

treasure-hunt

these glasses are like goggles they are fixed and cannot be adapted, although a very helpful optician did try but no go

Penny-Pincher!!

Hey

I fully sympathise with you but dont think you are entitled to any other help financially apart from the Budgeting loan. If you contact the DWP they may let you borrow more if you explain the situation-you can but ask.

Like I said, my DD is registered blind and apart from the high rate NHS voucher we have always had to fund her glasses to be thinned etc. Her swimming goggles were £250 and we had to fund them or not allow her to go. It is terrible being in this position when you dont have the funds to do so, but we put them on the CC and got 50% back through HSA but was still £125 that we didnt have.

DD has her eyes tested every 6 months. I have tried looking for maybe charities that may help out but without any luck. I dont know what else to suggest-sorry!

PP
xx