Glasses and contact lenses: Help towards the cost of glasses and contact lenses is given in the form of vouchers. Your optician will complete a voucher form with a code letter covering your prescription. Prescriptions are banded according to their complexity: the more complex the prescription the higher the value of the voucher. Each code letter carries a maximum voucher value (see DOH leaflet HC12 for details).

Some people qualify for vouchers of the maximum amount. These include:

People on Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Family Credit or Disability Working Allowance, or a partner of such a person

Alternatively you may qualify for help (all or part of the maximum voucher value) towards the cost of glasses or contact lenses if you or your partner have a low income and do not have savings of £8,000 or more ( £16,000 if you live in a residential care home or nursing home). Qualification is broadly based on the Income Support rules.

If you are prescribed complex lenses with at least one lens which has a power in any one meridian of plus or minus 10 or more dioptres, or a prism-controlled bifocal lens (your optician will advise), you will be entitled to a voucher (and therefore a free NHS sight test), but its value will be well below the maximum amount (again see DOH leaflet HC12 for details)

War Pensioners: If you are receiving a War Disablement Pension, you may be able to claim back some or all of the cost if your sight test, glasses or contact lenses are needed because of your war or service disability.

Hospital Eye Service: If you are referred to the Hospital Eye Service, and are prescribed glasses or contact lenses as part of your treatment, there are two special vouchers in addition to those available from opticians, and some supplements for special frames or special lenses (see DOH leaflet HC12 for details). Some hospitals have their own arrangements for supplying glasses, and there are special arrangements for maximum charges if the prescribed glasses are very expensive.

Sight tests for people who are housebound: People who are eligible for free NHS sight tests, and are unable to get to the optician’s practice, qualify for a free visit and test in their own home. If in these circumstances you qualify for partial financial help on low-income grounds, you can put the amount of that help as shown on certificate AG3 towards the cost of a private sight test at home. Not all opticians provide a visiting service.

Refunds: You can claim a refund on the cost or your sight test where you are claiming on low-income grounds and the necessary certificate becomes available only after your sight test. In the case of glasses or contact lenses, however, if you pay for your glasses and contact lenses yourself, you cannot get a refund afterwards even if you were entitled to a voucher, unless they were supplied through the Hospital Eye Service. Make sure you have a voucher before you buy.

For further information: See guides as listed in NHS dental treatment.

The concessionary Accommodation for Residential Care (ARC) licence authorises the use of television sets by ‘disabled persons, mentally disordered persons or retired persons of pensionable age’ in their rooms in residential and nursing homes and certain sheltered housing schemes. They can qualify whether they live alone or with another person

In England and Wales (there are equivalent rules for Scotland and N. Ireland) the accommodation must be either:

A residential home or nursing home which has as its sole or main object the provision of accommodation for people of any of the above descriptions, which is;

Provided by a local authority under section 21(1)(a) of the National Assistance Act 1948; or

Registered under part 1 of the Registered Homes Act 1984 (or would be so registered but for section 1(4) or 1(5)(j) of that Act); or

Registered under part II of the Registered Homes Act 1984 (or would be so registered but for section 21(3)(a) of that Act); or

An almshouse established before 1 November 1949; or

A sheltered housing estate erected or converted for occupation only (apart

from the exception noted below) by people in the categories referred to above

which is provided or managed by:

A local authority under Part II of the Housing Act 1985; or

A housing association within the meaning of the Housing Association Act 1985; or

A development corporation within the meaning of the New Towns Act 1981; or the Development Board of Rural Wales in accordance with section 3(2) of the Development of Rural Wales Act 1976

The estate must form a group of at least four dwellings within a common and exclusive boundary, and have a warden who resides within the common boundary or who works there for at least 30 hours each week. Except in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, a group of dwellings may now qualify ( by virtue of SI 1997 No. 290) notwithstanding that up to 25 per cent of them were purchased under the ‘right-to-buy’ provisions before the accommodation was designated as sheltered housing.

The fee for a special licence is £5 per unit of accommodation, but the use of sets in communal rooms or by staff (including resident wardens in their private accommodation) must be licensed at the standard rate.

Registered blind people (irrespective of where they live) can obtain a TV licence for £1.25 below the standard fee by presenting their registration card at a post office or sending it (or a photocopy) to TV Licensing, Bristol BS98 1TL, on renewal.

Further information and application forms can also be obtained from the above address

Note*: If you are 75 or over on the 1st November 2000 you are eligible for a free licence (read your renewal reminder for how to apply)

ALSO: If you are registered blind you will be able to receive a 50% discount on your licence from April 1st 2000 (take your registered blind certificate)