Do you think this fair, blue light discount?

[MrsWaltonGoggins]

I tried to use my blue light card in a restaurant today, and they say they only accept it now if you have an nhs or military id. They said this is because they have teachers using the blue light and they believe it should be for healthcare workers only. I said that I am a nurse, I just don’t work for the nhs and don’t really think that’s fair.

Has anyone else come across this? Surely if you offer blue light discount it should be for anyone with a blue light card.

Why did you bring up your business struggling then and "we don't get discounts"?

Well no, of course you don't.

@BlumminFreezin

Do you not think your sister allowing mum, sister and friends to use the card is an abuse of the scheme.
I have a card as a foster carer. Wouldn't cross my mind to give it to someone else to use

Well if they have a low opinion of teachers then they wouldn’t be getting my trade anymore.
If they want to give discount to emergency services or military personnel then they can crack on, but you don’t get to pick and choose with Blue Light cards. Did they get funny with dentists and opticians were allowed to sign up?

So do TAs and they’re on a lot less!

Offering a blc discount? because there are a lot of people signed up to it so they could in theory get lots of extra business. Discounts are often off peak so they may get people in when it's quiet.

Definitely not fair! I’ve got a blue light card but wouldn’t fit their made up criteria because I work in criminal justice.

I am a nurse, I just don’t work for the nhs and don’t really think that’s fair.

Who do you work for? I could see their point of sticking to the NHS only if there's staff from private cosmetic surgery clinics wanting the discount and suchlike. Those nurses might be within scheme rules but it's not really in the spirit of thing.

Shouldn't they only have counsellors who work for the NHS eligible, by that ideology?

Being a primary school teacher isn't who I thought blue light cards were for. The clue is in the name surely.

No idea. Just saying there's gotta be some limits or it could get a bit out of hand.

Nhs admin staff and managers also get them. They're not emergency services either, if that's what you mean.

Of course it is, according to the scheme rules.

Of all the things I might lose sleep over though, this isn't one of them.

But the scheme is open to teachers now. It was open to dentists and opticians for a while before that too. Do you have a problem with dentists and opticians, who most likely earn a lot more than teachers, too.

So if you have a blue light card, how do you then prove whether you are in one of the jobs the restaurant deems worthy?

I'm surprised there hasn't been a different company (pink light discount, or similar) launched to "hoover up" the data from others not eligible for BLD. (There are plenty working for NMW or on zero hours contracts) Then all the shops would probably put all prices up by 10% to account for student discounts, BLD , other discout schemes, and then only a small minority would pay the full (inflated) price.

I know someone who does office/admin work for the police. He gets a blue light discount but doubt his job is less well paid or more dangerous than any other office work. (No axe to grind, I don't do anything essential or work in an office)

However either the business offers the BLD or it doesn't, it can't add its own extra layer of criteria to account for part's it disagrees with!

And the lowest paid eg supermarket don't take crap from the public?

Tbh I would much rather my son's TA get the discount than higher earning civil servants. But that's not really the point.

I think that if a company is doing discounts for blue light card holders then they don't get to pick and choose.

I think the blue light card should be called something else. Because there are a lot of people who are entitled to the card, and absolutely deserve it but they are not blue light professionals. I think that if the card was called the public sector discount card or something similar then people would be less annoyed about teachers getting it.

Weirdly, when I tried to use my BLC in a well known establishment (in the SE at least), they said I'd used up all of my quota (or words to that effect), when it has always been standard that NHS staff get a 20pc discount. :/ Although, it is for NHS workers, so if you don't work for the NHS, then no, the discount won't apply.

Know nandos aren't part of the scheme but offer discount to NHS workers etc but if they haven't signed up for it fair enough that's their choice. Bit odd to be signed up for the blue light scheme and then say no to certain job roles. Not how it works.

Report them to the Blue Light scheme and they will have them removed.

They presumably get discounts at the supermarkets they work in

I agree. I was shocked to hear that someone who worked as a teacher 20 years ago was using it.

@category12

Because people who were unable to work didn’t get any discounts while those whose income and career future remained unchanged did.
In June 2021, we didn’t know if we would survive the month. We were on the brink of collapse and could have lost everything, including our home.
Those who made lots of money and possibly even managed to get paid more than usual got the discount while people going out to work on low pay didn’t.
It’s an example of the inequity of the scheme.

It is not a fair scheme. That’s my only point. There are many people who “deserve” a discount but don’t get it. Complaining only NHS medical workers get it is just the same.

Blimey. I wasn’t expecting to have to explain absolutely every point.

Anything else?

Well they shouldn’t. You have to send a recent payslip to get approved.

They had no right to challenge you. When you apply for a blue light card you have to upload a wage slip with your employers name on it. It is then checked and verified. Sounds to me like the restaurant employee lied about teachers using it and just didn't want to give you a discount.