Who gets a free NHS eye test? Eligibility explained

The NHS website sets out the groups who are entitled to a free NHS sight test. If you are not eligible for an NHS-funded test or an optical voucher, you have to cover the costs yourself. The main groups are listed here.

• Aged under 16.

• Aged 16, 17 or 18 and in full-time education, including being taught full-time at a school, college, university or at home.

• Aged 60 or over.

• Registered as partially sighted or blind.

• Diagnosed with diabetes or glaucoma.

• Aged 40 or over and your mother, father, sibling or child has been diagnosed with glaucoma.

• Advised by an ophthalmologist that you are at risk of glaucoma.

• A prisoner on leave from prison.

• Eligible for an NHS complex lens voucher.

• Entitled to, or named on, a valid NHS certificate for full help with health costs (HC2).

You are also entitled if you or your partner, including a civil partner, receive Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, Pension Credit Guarantee Credit or Universal Credit and meet the criteria. The same applies if you are under the age of 20 and the dependant of someone receiving one of those. The NHS notes that people named on an HC3 certificate, which gives partial help with health costs, may get help with the cost of a private sight test.

The NHS page points readers to the NHS Low Income Scheme for more information about help with health costs.

A free test is not the same as a voucher towards glasses. The NHS lists a narrower group for optical vouchers: people under 16, those aged 16 to 18 in full-time education, prisoners on leave, people eligible for an NHS complex lens voucher, and people entitled to or named on an HC2 certificate, plus the benefit groups above. People aged 60 or over and people with diabetes or glaucoma are entitled to the free test but are not automatically entitled to a voucher on those grounds alone.

Complex lens vouchers are for lenses of -10 or +10 dioptres or stronger, or prism-controlled bifocal lenses, and are available only to people who meet the clinical criteria and are not eligible for one of the main vouchers. The NHS page gave the contribution as £15.81 for single vision lenses and £40.57 for bifocal lenses at the time it was last reviewed, so check the current values.

If you are eligible for a free NHS sight test you may also be entitled to a mobile sight test, where an optometrist visits you. The NHS lists three situations: at home if you are unable to leave home unaccompanied because of physical or mental illness or disability, at a residential or care home if you are a resident and cannot leave unaccompanied, and at a day centre if you cannot get a test at an optician's practice because of illness or disability or have difficulties communicating your health needs unaided.

The NHS says to ask the optometrist for a receipt that shows you paid and the date of payment. You then download, print and return an HC5(O) refund form with your original receipt to the address on the form. For glasses or contact lenses, you also include your optical prescription. The maximum refund is the voucher value that matches your prescription, and you cannot claim the difference between a voucher and the actual cost, unless it was a complex lens voucher.

You must check that you are entitled before signing any declaration. The NHS warns that a false claim can lead to paying the cost of the test and the voucher value plus a penalty charge of up to £100.

Another NHS page says an eligible person can have a free test every 2 years, and possibly more often if the practitioner or optometrist recommends it. The NHS also notes that a free test is only for tests considered clinically necessary. The frequency guide linked below covers when to ask for an earlier test.

The pages used for this guide are published on the NHS website. If you live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, check with your own national NHS service for the rules that apply to you.