Are employers obligated to pay for eye tests?

chloecc

Hi there,

I'm not sure if this is in the right part of the forum, but i wonder if anyone could tell me if your emplyer is obligated to pay for your eye tests? i spend all my working day at my pc and am in need of one but thought if they are not then i will just take up a free offer with a different company to the one i used to use. been two years since my last one so fingers crossed nothing's altered that much!!!

dzug1

Yes they are - or to arrange one for you. He could quite legitimately ask you to take up a free offer if he's aware of one.

If you need different glasses for PC use to those used for distance or reading then they must pay for the glasses as well.

My (former) employer provided a voucher which covered the test and up to £50 (I think) for glasses. Most opticians accepted the voucher

chloecc

Ah thanks very much, i will have a word and see what he would prefer me to do

melancholly

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg36.pdf

have a look on page 5 - looks like they should pay for you

chloecc

thats great! thank you for your help!

Pennywise

The employer may well want to provide you with just a "basic" eyetest which is all that is required under the law. If you have a "normal" eyetest it will cover more, such as an eye inspection rather than just sight tests.

superjaggybunnet

Eye tests are free in Scotland.

You guys are so backward!

chloecc

You'd think having a scottish PM woudl help wouldnt you ;-)

Bogof_Babe

Our works eye tests used to be sitting at a computer and clicking on various test screens, e.g. spot the 'c' hidden among the 'o's, the '8' among the '3's etc., as it was only required to test your eyesight as it affected your computer use. Therefore there was no test for long sightedness, pressure etc., so as an all round examination it was pretty useless. The only glasses they would pay for were if you needed them specifically for computer work.

Work eye tests are no substitute for going to a proper optician, so I wouldn't rely on them picking up any problems. Of course your employer might send you to a proper optician - ours had the works nurse do them on site (no pun intended).

chloecc

thanks for your help everyone, i did go on saturday and i do need specs, after 27 years without, i dont suppose thats too bad by today's standards, but they are for VDU use only so i should be able to claim it back from my boss :money:

thanks again everyone!!
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