General Ophthalmic Services Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007

Sight Tests – eligibility

16.—(1) A person may have his sight tested under the general ophthalmic services if, at the time of the testing of sight, he is any of the following —

(a) a person who is under the age of 16 years;

(b) a person who is under the age of 19 years and receiving qualifying full-time education;

(c) a person who is aged 60 years or more;

(d) a person whose resources are treated in accordance with paragraph (2) as being less than, or equal to, his requirements;

(e) a person who requires to wear a complex appliance;

(f) a person who is identified as being blind or partially sighted under section 1 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons (Northern Ireland) Act 1978(1);

(g) a person who has been diagnosed as suffering from diabetes or glaucoma or has been advised by an ophthalmologist that he is predisposed to the development of glaucoma;

(h) a person who is aged 40 or over and is the parent, brother, sister or child of a person who has been diagnosed as suffering from glaucoma.

(2) A person’s resources shall be treated as being less than or equal to his requirements if —

(a) he is in receipt of income support;

(b) he is a member of the same family as a person who is in receipt of income support;

(c) his income resources as calculated in accordance with Part IV of, and Schedule 1 to, the Remission Regulations for the purposes of remission of charges under the Order are less than or equal to his requirements as so calculated or exceed his requirements as so calculated by fifty per cent or less of the amount of the charge specified in regulation 3(1)(b) (supply of drugs and appliances by chemists) of the Charges Regulations and his capital resources as so calculated do not exceed the capital limit;

(d) he is a member of the same family as a person described in sub-paragraph (c);

(e) he is in receipt of an income-based jobseeker’s allowance;

(f) he is a member of the same family as a person described in sub-paragraph (e);

(g) he is a member of a family —

(i) one member of which is receiving —

(aa) working tax credit and child tax credit;

(bb) working tax credit which includes a disability element or a severe disability element; or

(cc) child tax credit, but is not eligible to receive working tax credit; and

(ii) where the relevant income of the person or persons to whom an award of a tax credit is made under section 14 of the Tax Credits Act 2002 is determined at the time of the award not to exceed £15,050;

(h) he is a person in respect of whom there is a current notice of entitlement;

(i) he is in receipt of pension credit guarantee credit; or

(j) he is a member of the same family as a person described in sub-paragraph (i).

(3) In paragraph (1)(g) “ophthalmologist” means a doctor whose name is included in the register of specialists kept by the General Medical Council under Article 13(1) of the General and Specialist Medical Practice (Education, Training and Qualifications) Order 2003(2) and in respect of whom that register indicates his speciality to be ophthalmology.

(4) In paragraph (2) –

(a) in sub-paragraphs (b), (d) and (j) “family” has the meaning assigned to it by section 133(1) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992(3), as it applies to income support;

(b) in sub-paragraph (f), “family” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 2(2) of the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995(4); and

(c) in sub-paragraph (g), “family” has the meaning assigned to it by regulation 2(2) of the Tax Credits (Definition and Calculation of Income) Regulations 2002(5).

(1)

1978 c.53

(2)

S.I. 2003/1250

(3)

1992 c. 7

(4)

S.I. 1995/2705 (N.I. 15)

(5)

S.I. 2002/2006