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DSE Regs - assistance with purchasing glasses
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Posted By Brenda H
Where employees are required to wear glasses for DSE use and the employer is required to pay for them.....most employer's seem to put a £50 limit on this.
I know there isn't anything in the Regs about this, so where does it come from and what basis?
Not being a glasses wearer, I don't know whether this is what you can buy glasses for for VDU use these days?
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Posted By Bob Thompson CMIOSH
The regs state that employers are required to pay for the proportion of the corrective appliance related to computer use, we use the ACOR eye care voucher system . The allocated voucher for provision of corrective appliances is £50. The advice from them and other optical advisors is that there can be no problems caused by computer use, that will cost more than £50 to correct. If folk then want versaci frames they are on their own
Regards Bob
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Posted By Brenda H
Yep I realise if they want a flash pair of glasses then they have to pay for that cost themselves.
But, I know there isn't any limit in the Regs on employer contribution so what I was asking is whether the £50 was reflective of what it cost to get a standard pair of glasses for VDU Use?
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Posted By andyp
Specsavers offer a corporate eyecare plan that is far more cost efficient than the provision of corrective appliances costing in the region of £50.
For the single price of £17 they offer an eyesight test in line with the VDU regs & also any corrective appliances from one of their range if required.
There are no additional costs involved.
Andy
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Posted By Sharon
Brenda,
we give our employees upto a maximum of £70.00 this alsos include the eye test.
We use a local optician who charges a standard fee of £15.00 for the eye test and then he/she has £55.00 to spend on frames etc. If they want fancy ones they will pay the difference and the opticians only bill us for £70.00.
There is nothing in black and white that states how much you should pay, its down to the Company at the end of the day.
Your company should cover the costs up to a limit that is reasonable and where a basic appliance can be covered by that amount.
You can get some nice glasses nowadays at very reasonable prices.
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Posted By Andrew M
The way I work it is... If the you meet the cost of the cheapest, nastiest glasses that are fit for the purpose intended ie. reading DSE, you are covered. If the employee would like his from Oakley, Ray Ban or Dolce Gabbana they are more than welcome to pay the difference...
Same with boots...
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Posted By Jay Joshi
Purely on cost basis, Specsavers appears to be the lowest at £17=00 inclusive of the full eye-test and a basic pair of corrective appliances, if required.
Howvever, a small proportion of employees have a preference to use their local optician/ optermotist as their eye-test history is with them etc etc.
Ultimately, it is for the employer to decide what scheme to use.
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Posted By Ron Hunter
Under DSE Regulations, the employer is required to pay for the basic frame and prescription required for the User's work - not just Computer work. Thus if bi-focal or vari-focal lenses incorporating a prescription sepcifically for DSE work is the recommendation of the optometrist (such as would be relevant to (e.g.) a receptionist) then the employer is liable for the whole lens costs NOT a "part thereof".
Whilst such situations are not the norm, you will struggle to provide that for £50.
Para 87 (Regulation 5) of L26 Guidance on the Regulations refers.
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Posted By Andrew M
Out of curiosity... do you chaps and chapettes allow the employee to get their prescription during working hours or make them go in thier own time?
Have you ever had one refuse to go in their own time and if so what have you done?
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Posted By Rachael Palmer
Brenda our all our staff are members of a health scheme and as such get an annual allowance towards the cost of eye tests & glasses. The canny ones get their eyes tested just before the renewal date & buy the glasses just after the renewal date. As the majority only required eye tests every two years this works out quite well. The allowance p.a. is currently £45.00.
Andrew, employees are expected to go in their own time. Did have one chap who wanted us to bring in a mobile optician to test every one on site but financially and logistically it wasn't an option. He was told quite politely to go to find himself an optician the same as everyone else has to.
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Posted By Sharon
Andrew,
our employees usually go in their own time, but....if they want to go in works time its at the managers discretion.
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DSE Regs - assistance with purchasing glasses
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