Explanatory note

These Regulations further amend the Health and Personal Social Services (Optical Charges and Payments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 (“the principal Regulations”) which provide for payments 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 8 of the principal Regulations to increase the income level used to calculate the resources and requirements of recipients of tax credits to establish eligibility for payments for the cost incurred for the supply of optical appliances. Regulation 2 also corrects an error in the Optical Charges and Payments (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008.

Regulation 3 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 4 and the Schedule amend the Schedules to the principal Regulations. Firstly, it omits paragraph 10 in Schedule 1; secondly the value of vouchers issued towards the costs of the supply and replacement of glasses and contact lenses is increased; thirdly, the additional values for vouchers for prisms, tints, photochromic lenses and special categories of appliances are increased; and fourthly, the value of vouchers issued towards the cost of the repair and replacement of optical appliances is increased.

Regulation 5 provides that the increases contained in regulations 2(a), 3 and 4 apply only in relation to vouchers accepted or used on or after 1st April 2009.