Spectacles: Charges to Pensioners (Hansard, 28 March 1985)

§ Lord Kilmarnock
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Security (Baroness Trumpington)
My Lords, pensioners requiring glasses with complex lenses under the general ophthalmic services that will apply from 1st April may be eligible for full or partial remission of charges under the present supplementary benefit or low income arrangements. Those pensioners who do not qualify for remission of charges will be entitled to obtain complex lenses at prices which reflect the full cost to the National Health Service.

§ Lord Kilmarnock
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for that reply but may I ask her this supplementary question? Is it not the case that those pensioners who do not qualify for remission, and who are only just above a very low income, will find themselves faced with a rise in charges of £11.75 to £31.5 for post cataract or lenticular glasses, as they are called, and, when the provisional scheme comes to an end and the National Health provision is removed altogether, they will then be faced with private charges for that type of spectacles in the region of £50 to £60?

§ Baroness Trumpington
My Lords, the maximum charge for a pair of complex bifocal spectacles will be £52.5. This is made up of two lenses at £25 each and the basic £2.5 for the frame. This charge reflects the average un-subsidised cost of complex bifocal lenses. The present subsidised charge would be £35.5.

§ Lord Prys-Davies
My Lords, should not every pensioner who is not in receipt of social security be charged the same for his lens to meet his requirements, whether it be a simple lens or a complex lens?

§ Baroness Trumpington
My Lords, successive Governments have maintained a policy of providing help on the basis of need, rather than for particular categories of people. We are simply continuing this policy, though on a rather more generous scale than the party opposite.

Lord Wallace of Coslany
My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that pensioners who receive only a pension and who are not on supplementary benefit, will be hit very hard indeed? It must be borne in mind that, as the noble Baroness will be aware, the bulk of cataract sufferers are in the older age bracket. Is she aware that I regard the answer from her brief as both callous and indifferent to the needs of elderly people?

§ Baroness Trumpington
My Lords, I am very sorry that the noble Lord feels the way he does. Those pensioners who are not in receipt of supplementary benefit, and who wish to seek financial help for National Health glasses on low income grounds, will have the higher rates of assessment taken into account when their entitlement to a remission of charges is calculated. The amount of remission will be graduated according to the individual's circumstances. With regard to those people who have had cataract operations, and who might need frequent changes until their eyes have stabilised, there will be no extra charge for the change of glasses until their eyes have stabilised.

Lord Wallace of Coslany
My Lords, if that is the case, what will happen, after the change of glasses has been effected and stabilisation has been achieved, is that the elderly person will be facing a colossal cost of anything up to £100 or £150.

§ Baroness Trumpington
My Lords, under the new law it will be up to people to shop around to see whether they can get their spectacles cheaper than they have previously.

§ Lord Wells-Pestell
My Lords, I ask the noble Baroness to bear in mind that there are a large percentage of old-age pensioners who are entitled to supplementary benefit, but decline to apply for it. Can they, if faced with a very severe charge for their spectacles which they cannot afford, ask for financial help from the Supplementary Benefit Commission?

§ Baroness Trumpington
My Lords, the best thing for those categories which the noble Lord has just described is for them to see their local social security office, which will take into account all the circumstances. They may well be entitled to help.

§ Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos
My Lords, in view of the very real hardship which has been exposed in this exchange, and the concern of noble Lords throughout the House, will the noble Baroness be good enough to discuss this matter with her right honourable friend and bring home to him this acute concern?

§ Baroness Trumpington
My Lords, in answer to the noble Lord, Lord Cledwyn, I feel sure that my right honourable friend will read the account of today's proceedings with great interest. It is very important to remember that when entitlement to remission is being calculated both single and married pensioners benefit from greater allowances than do those below pensionable age.

§ Lord Kilmarnock
My Lords, does the noble Baroness agree that what she has announced to us is a very complicated means tested scheme? As it is intended to be provisional, and the Government have announced that they intend to proceed to a system of vouchers, will she represent to her right honourable friend the need for a higher value of voucher for complex lenses when a voucher scheme is introduced?

§ Baroness Trumpington
My Lords, while it is our intention eventually to introduce a voucher or cash aid system for the provision of glasses for children and those on low incomes, it is not yet possible to say what form any such system will take. In any event, appropriate consultation will take place before introducing any such measures.

§ Lord Rugby
My Lords, may I ask the noble Baroness whether it is right that, now that we have more competing market forces in the production of these lenses, the likelihood is that the price will, in fact, come down?

§ Baroness Trumpington
Yes, my Lords.