EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations further amend the Health and Personal Social Services (Optical Charges and Payments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 (“the principal Regulations”) which provide for payment to be made, by means of a voucher system, in respect of costs incurred by certain categories of persons in connection with the supply, replacement and repair of optical appliances.
Regulation 2 amends regulation 19 of the principal Regulations to increase the redemption value of a voucher issued towards the cost of replacement of a single contact lens and to increase the maximum contribution by way of a voucher to the cost of repair of a frame.
Regulation 3 and the Schedule amend the Schedules to the principal Regulations. Firstly, the value of vouchers issued towards the costs of the supply and replacement of glasses and contact lenses is increased; secondly, the additional values for vouchers for prisms, tints, photochromic lenses and special categories of appliances are increased; and thirdly, the value of vouchers issued towards the cost of the repair and replacement of optical appliances is increased.
Regulation 4 provides that the increases contained in regulation 2 and 3 apply only in relation to vouchers accepted or used on or after 1 September 2013.