Does Tax Credits Exemption Cover Lenses?

clare1angel

Hello All,

My hubby and I are both named on the NHS tax credits exemption certificates and both went for eye tests today.  The tests were free and also the frame that my husband chose.
I just wanted to check if the certificate gives any help at all towards his lenses? When I asked the chap doing all the costs etc he said it was just the test and frames that were included as our certificate didn't have a letter on it (a, b, c etc) it just has a certificate number.  My hubby is 60 so entitled to free eye tests anyway I believe.
It's our first time using the certificate so just wanted to check.

Thanks for any help it's very much appreciated!

poppy12345

It also includes an optical voucher for help with the cost of the glasses and the lens. However, it may not cover everything, it depends on what you've chosen. https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/opticians/free-nhs-eye-tests-and-optical-vouchers/

clare1angel

poppy12345 said:

It also includes an optical voucher for help with the cost of the glasses and the lens. However, it may not cover everything, it depends on what you've chosen. https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/opticians/free-nhs-eye-tests-and-optical-vouchers/

Thanks for the reply.....they have said varifocals would be best for him (needs for reading and driving) and we have added an anti glare and tints.  I understand any help would not cover certain extras but just thought there maybe something towards the varifocals?  As I say I showed him the certificate and even phoned them a little while ago to check so now I'm thinking I need to get an actual optical voucher?

poppy12345

The tax exemption certificate will include the optical voucher.(please see link) I wear glasses which include varifocals and my total cost of my lens was covered because i claim Income Related ESA. I paid a little extra for my frame.

olgadapolga

clare1angel said:

poppy12345 said:

It also includes an optical voucher for help with the cost of the glasses and the lens. However, it may not cover everything, it depends on what you've chosen. https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/opticians/free-nhs-eye-tests-and-optical-vouchers/

Thanks for the reply.....they have said varifocals would be best for him (needs for reading and driving) and we have added an anti glare and tints.  I understand any help would not cover certain extras but just thought there maybe something towards the varifocals?  As I say I showed him the certificate and even phoned them a little while ago to check so now I'm thinking I need to get an actual optical voucher?

DH's varifocals were covered by his tax credits exemption. I chose not to have varifocals so have two pairs of glasses, both of which were covered by my tax credit exemption certificate. Tints, etc weren't covered but the frames, lenses and eye tests were covered. 

I think that you need to go back to the optician and ask them to look at it again.

BTW, our tax credit exemption certificates are numbers only, no letters, so I think that your optician may be pulling a fast one/mistaken.

clare1angel

poppy12345 said:

The tax exemption certificate will include the optical voucher.(please see link) I wear glasses which include varifocals and my total cost of my lens was covered because i claim Income Related ESA. I paid a little extra for my frame.

Thank you, I did say all of this to the chap I spoke to but he was very sure that our certificate only covered the test and frame as the frame was chosen from the NHS selection.  I had seen the information on the link and that's why I posted here as I thought we needed something like a reference number that included a letter?  Maybe I'll contact the BSA who provide the certificate and see what they say.
Thank you again for your replies.

clare1angel

olgadapolga said:

clare1angel said:

poppy12345 said:

It also includes an optical voucher for help with the cost of the glasses and the lens. However, it may not cover everything, it depends on what you've chosen. https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/opticians/free-nhs-eye-tests-and-optical-vouchers/

Thanks for the reply.....they have said varifocals would be best for him (needs for reading and driving) and we have added an anti glare and tints.  I understand any help would not cover certain extras but just thought there maybe something towards the varifocals?  As I say I showed him the certificate and even phoned them a little while ago to check so now I'm thinking I need to get an actual optical voucher?

DH's varifocals were covered by his tax credits exemption. I chose not to have varifocals so have two pairs of glasses, both of which were covered by my tax credit exemption certificate. Tints, etc weren't covered but the frames, lenses and eye tests were covered. 

I think that you need to go back to the optician and ask them to look at it again.

BTW, our tax credit exemption certificates are numbers only, no letters, so I think that your optician may be pulling a fast one/mistaken.

Thank you for your reply, it does sound like he hasn't checked our certificate properly.  I just want to make sure I have all the information I need to get a correct bill.  As I say we have no issue with paying for the extras.  How do I find out the value of the optical voucher that's included with the certificate?  I knew it didn't seem right but my husband has health issues and we also had our 7 year old with us so I was distracted but I think once I've gathered the info I need then I'll be going back to them.
Thank you again

Spoonie_Turtle

The link poppy posted tells you the values 
https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/opticians/nhs-voucher-values-for-glasses-and-lenses/

Which one you have is determined by your prescription (clinical need) rather than by financial circumstances.

clare1angel

Spoonie_Turtle said:

The link poppy posted tells you the values 
https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/opticians/nhs-voucher-values-for-glasses-and-lenses/

Which one you have is determined by your prescription (clinical need) rather than by financial circumstances.

Thank you, we do have a copy of our test results but wasn't told what value that came to....I'm more and more convinced the chap that dealt with the costs hasn't properly read our certificate has like I say the frames were from the NHS range so not designer and I believe an optical voucher would of covered more??
Thank you for your reply

Spoonie_Turtle

clare1angel said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

The link poppy posted tells you the values 
https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/opticians/nhs-voucher-values-for-glasses-and-lenses/

Which one you have is determined by your prescription (clinical need) rather than by financial circumstances.

Thank you, we do have a copy of our test results but wasn't told what value that came to....I'm more and more convinced the chap that dealt with the costs hasn't properly read our certificate has like I say the frames were from the NHS range so not designer and I believe an optical voucher would of covered more??
Thank you for your reply

Prescriptions are fairly simple to read.  Do a Google search specifying UK prescriptions and see which explanation makes sense to you, then you can refer to the page and see which matches up.

(Or if you want you can post the values/results here and we'll be able to tell you.)

clare1angel

Spoonie_Turtle said:

clare1angel said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

The link poppy posted tells you the values 
https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/opticians/nhs-voucher-values-for-glasses-and-lenses/

Which one you have is determined by your prescription (clinical need) rather than by financial circumstances.

Thank you, we do have a copy of our test results but wasn't told what value that came to....I'm more and more convinced the chap that dealt with the costs hasn't properly read our certificate has like I say the frames were from the NHS range so not designer and I believe an optical voucher would of covered more??
Thank you for your reply

Prescriptions are fairly simple to read.  Do a Google search specifying UK prescriptions and see which explanation makes sense to you, then you can refer to the page and see which matches up.

(Or if you want you can post the values/results here and we'll be able to tell you.)

Hopefully my pic has uploaded lol

I should of been more prepared before we went but just assumed they would know more about the certificate than I did but lesson learnt.

Thank you again.