Devon County Council increases eyecare voucher take-up

Devon County Council has increased take-up of eyecare vouchers to 550 since it switched providers in August 2011.

The council, which has 4,000 employees classified as visual display unit (VDU) users, switched to Specsavers after conducting a tender exercise.

Jason Wilson, business support manager and part of the Wellbeing@Work services team at Devon County Council, said: “We went through a tender exercise, which was weighted on a number of different factors: price, administration and geographical coverage.”

With its previous provider, the council paid for a voucher for eye tests and an additional voucher if an employee was eligible for glasses for VDU use. At Specsavers, this is all covered under one voucher. Wilson added: “There is a cost benefit but, from our point of view, an administrative benefit as well.”

The service also includes free retinal screening for staff aged over 40.

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