Posted By hmpercy
My employer has decided that they will only pay the first 18.39GBP of the cost of an eye test for VDU users. When I asked for an eye test, they sent me a letter telling me this. There is no dispute that I am a VDU user. They did not tell me which optician to use. I booked myself in with Specsavers, but did not ask the cost of the eye test in advance. The test cost 21GBP which I paid. I asked my employer if they would pay the full amount and they said no. This is a big organisation - believe it or not, it is part of the NHS - and they will probably save a few thousand pounds by their policy because employees will be discouraged from having an eye test.

Please would anyone be kind enough to tell me:
(1) Is my employer acting illegally?
(2) If they are acting illegally, what steps should I take to bring pressure on them to pay the full amount of my eye test?

I have tried emailing the HSE but they have just quoted the relevant parts of the legislation and not answered my question. Thank you for any advice you can give me.

Posted By Barrie (Badger) Etter
Check out the HSE's web site.
The following extract is from
Working with VDUs
INDG 36(rev 3)
On request arrange eye tests, and provide spectacles if special ones are needed.
On request arrange eye tests, and provide spectacles if special ones are needed Employees covered by the Regulations can ask their employer to provide and pay for an eye and eyesight test. This is a test by an optometrist or doctor. There is also an entitlement to further tests at regular intervals; the optometrist doing the first test can recommend when the next should be. Employers only have to pay for spectacles if special ones (for example, prescribed for the distance at which the screen is viewed) are needed and normal ones cannot be used.

So from that given in a guidence I'd say yes. The only caviat would be if you chose a pair of frames costing more than say than the £40 the company was willing to pay for.

Hope its' of use
Badger

Posted By hmpercy
Thank you to Swis, Badger and Pete48 for your responses. The procedures are quite clear and I followed them. The exact text of the letter they gave me is as follows:
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Thank you for your enquiry about eye tests in relation to Display Screen Equipment (DSE) use.

Please take the attached Form DSE on your visit to the opticians. You must pay the cost of the eye test and for any corrective appliance required for DSE work and then claim reimbursement up to a maximum of £18.39 for the eye test and £51.20 for the corrective appliance. Any claim for reimbursement must be accompanied by the attached Form DSE, completed by the optician and a receipt showing the full amount paid.
====

So they have made it quite clear that they will not pay the full amount if the eye test costs more than 18.39. They have not told me which optician to go to, and when asked, they said they did not have an arrangement with any optician, although they are thinking about setting one up. It seems that they have decided to delegate the job of arranging the eye test to the employee, which seems reasonable to me, but I do not think it is reasonable to set such a low limit on the cost of the eye test.

I did not ask Specsavers what the cost of the eye test was before having it, because I assumed that my employer's limit would cover the cost of a test from any mainstream optician. Also, before the last reorganisation, my employer used to have an arrangement with Specsavers so I always used to go there. I could have rung round all the opticians in the local area to see if any of them charged less than my employer's limit, but shouldn't that be my employer's reponsibility, as they are supposed to arrange the eye test?

Posted By Paul Leadbetter
The test and the cost of a basic pair of 'special corrective appliances', if necessary, must be borne in full by the employer.

Paul

Posted By martinw
Bit late to wade in on this, but I am fairly sure that the unions have been involved with this. The NHS Trust where my wife works has exactly the same arrangement where it pays the main part of the fee but the remainder is paid out of your own pocket. There will be a Trust Policy for this somewhere, I am reliably informed.
Sorry this is no real help but it may be more common than you think.
Martin