Q: Are UK small business employers obligated to pay for prescription spectacles for staff for use with computers if it has been deemed necessary by an optician?
Apr 06 2006
Answered by: Peter Done Ask a question
The basic answer to this question is ‘yes’. However, you presumably have carried out risk assessments and are complying with the regulations applying to display screen equipment (DSE) users. You need to assess the individual and to determine whether they are, in effect, a user. Please do not take this answer as extensive, because it is not, but if the individual spends under 50 per cent of their time during the working day on DSE and they have opportunities for ‘eye breaks’ then it is unlikely that they are a user. But you need to assess the situation properly yourself. If they are a user then you need to ensure that they are fitted with spectacles which have the appropriate, corrective lenses. They are not entitled to designer frames, shaded lenses, react-to-light type lenses, etc. What they are entitled to, and what you must pay for, is the basic lens and the basic frame and there is at least one well-known chain which will do the eyesight test for £17 and lenses appropriately for £30. There is then the additional cost of the frames but they do not need to be designer ones
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