Do you have to pay for 2nd pair of child's glasses?

[Cherrycupcake24]

I'm new to this so not sure of what we are entitled to. Ds is 5 and has been prescribed glasses to wear full time. We haven't had to pay because it's on the nhs but was wondering what happens if we want a second pair, do we pay for those? Or if he damages his first pair do we have to pay for repairs/replacements?

You won't get a spare pair free but if he breaks them then you usually do. I'd recommend keeping hold of the prescription and ordering a couple spare pairs online for less than a tenner. My two very easily broke theirs at that age and it can take time to get replacements. Also if his prescription is quite strong, you get get swimming goggles on Amazon quite cheap too which will be really good for him if he's learning to swim.

@RhaenysRocks where have you ordered children's prescription glasses from online? Everywhere I've looked only do adults

Specsavers are brilliant for kids glasses.

We pay for prescription sunglasses in addition to the regular glasses and these are a game changer if you can afford them.

Also they do prescription goggles.

It’s usually one pair a year, but sometimes if you break them and go in, they just fill out another voucher anyway. But if you want another pair, you do have to buy them. However, boots usually do a discount on 2nd pairs so I always buy them at the same time. My kid will get a normal pair and then a pair of sunglasses for his prescription and they’ll use the NHS voucher amount off one pair and give me whatever promotion Boots is running on the second pair so you’re only paying whatever the voucher didn’t cover on pair 1 and then whatever pair 2 costs after the promotion.

You won't get a spare pair free - as pp said you generally get a repair/replacement free but if they don't have spares in stock sometimes they can take up to a week to sort. We always use specsavers as it's half price for a second pair if ordered at the same time as the NHS pair (but you won't get free repairs on the 'paid for' ones).

Once they've had a few pairs of glasses prescribed on the NHS you can just use the previous pair as the spare, as long as the prescription change isn't huge.

You pay for the second pair, unless the optician is running an offer. Specsavers frequently run "buy one pair, get one free" or "buy one pair, get the second half-price" offers, which can be used in conjunction with the NHS's funding of the first pair.

Check to see if your employer offers discount on Specsavers frames, too.

You won’t get a spair pair free. If child’s prescription is strong you may also have to supplement for suitable glasses. I have to pay to have my son’s glasses thinned down as otherwise they are too heavy for his face. When he was younger he had the tomato glasses but I had to contribute towards those

Mine only wear them for screen time/distance and I paid for a second pair which are now broken. The other pair appears to have legs and are found all over school, the house and once at the pool. I have threatened to put them on a string round her neck...
Second Specsavers if you have a child. They do repairs for free on the NHS pair.

Get a signed prescription from the optician and buy online - if you've purchased recently you should have an idea of what style/sizing suits you. I've had good deals from Just Good Glasses and Glasses Direct.

SpecSavers - I think they start from about £30, if you but two pairs & one is £70 or more, the second pair is free, Careful, they do try and upsell on different type of lenses.

Ds gets his prescribed via the hospital and because of his strong prescription he is prescribed two pairs as he couldn’t be without glasses.

we have always used Specsavers and they have been fantastic if repairs have been needed.

Children's glasses have to be supplied and fitted by a qualified dispensing optician or optometrist .So you can't buy them on line.

Yes you do. You used to get 2 pairs but only one was covered by the NHS if they got broken.. Now you only get the one and my son is great at breaking his glasses 🙄

You cannot buy kids glasses online it’s illegal. (UK)
buy a cheaper second pair once and you can just get a replacement free.,
if their prescription is high hospitals will allow a second voucher sometimes.

Specsavers were always brilliant with us. We were advised to get 2 pairs from the start so deliberately chose 2 different colours so rather than saying to DD1 "should we put your glasses on?" (invites the answer "no"), it was always "pink glasses or purple glasses?". She wore them from 2y 7m and from day 2 was great about it. She's now 25 and still wears glasses, although wears contact lenses some of the time now.

When I knew she would need glasses but before she was prescribed them, I did a recce of the local high street when she and DD2 were at nursery. Boots were dismissive, Vision Express were extremely rude. Specsavers were kind and helpful. Hence, we have all been customers of Specsavers since 2002. They were always patient with her, and when she was 7 and very inquisitive, they took the time to answer her questions and never made us feel that we were an inconvenience.

We were told we'd be eligible for another test and glasses every 3-6 months so just to keep getting more to have spares