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.

So they like the people that bomb other people's kids more than the people that teach theirs?

Nice.

I'd be interested in all the people (presumably who do get the BLD) who insist "most" people (in private industry) get discounts/perks, what those actually are. I'd imagine most people in retail/hospitality/other low paid jobs only get perks or discounts for the shop, or establishment they work in, not 100s of outlets. Some will be more useful than others. Working in a supermarket ,or for TFL - great, working in Moss Bros for example- less great!

Jeeze. I'm a teacher (retired now, but with DD and son in law teaching still) and sometimes I understand entirely why much of Mumsnet is sick of us. This whole 'we're not paid for the holidays you know' thing is brought up SO often on Mumsnet that it's even annoying me. I've never once heard it brought up in real life.

Sometimes I'm actually embarrassed by it all. When we have real issues, like the ones noblegiraffe brings up, no-one cares because they're sick of the repetitive whinging.

It's accepted wisdom on MN and in the wider UK, that no one has worse pay or conditions than public sector workers. This is the reason they deserve their inflated pensions, funded by taxpayers.
Everyone working in the private sector shoots to the top of their pay band in a couple of years, enjoying private healthcare and bonuses as they go.
Evidently. I can't say I know anyone with these benefits IRL, but there you go.

Always wonder why it's not minimum wage workers that get this, nurses and teachers already have above average pay.

I’m an nhs pensioner and entitled to a blue light card - don’t have any current NHS ID!! This doesn’t sound right!!

The level of bitterness displayed by some posters on this thread is embarrassing.

What am I missing here? Does the blue light card turn things to gold or something? I cannot believe all this competitiveness and pettiness between public sector roles over getting 5% off at Brewers Fayre. Public sector workers never used to be like this towards each other and used to have so much solidarity with each other but post-Covid everyone seems to have gone utterly insane. I’ve never seen so many nurses slag teachers off or the armed forces slag police officers off or vice versa. Everyone does important yet different jobs. It’s not a contest.

The eligibility of the blue light card has nothing to do with who’s paid less or who suffers more or who faces the public more or any of this oppression olympics nonsense. It’s a commercial enterprise wanting to make a profit from your £4.99 membership fee. You can find a discount or promo code for virtually anything these days. If not now then a few weeks down the line.

Retailers (especially online) have so many sales and promo codes throughout the year for virtually everything that it makes no difference. There’s clubcards, nectar cards, avois cards, student discount cards, meerkat cinema offers, AA cards, tastecards, discounts with your bank card, priority access mobile phone network concert tickets etc. Discounts aren’t confined to a small section of the population. BLC is just one of thousands of discount schemes.

And I reckon even a thread asking for recipe tips for a deconstructed chicken could descend into a thread about teachers holidays. 99% of people know anything over the statutory minimum of (20+8) is unpaid, the ones that keep insisting it isn’t are just doing it to wind teachers up and they fall for it every time.

Everybody has got to massively calm down.

I don't begrudge anyone getting a blue light discount, but I think lots of people are quick to dismiss it as barely anything/not worth bothering about, while insisting everyone else must get all manner of other perks....when many people don't - apart from a discount at their own workplace (unless you're talking about shop loyalty cards which are basically available to anyone over 18)

Or pretending it's all for the businesses benefit while ignoring it actually is a minor perk of their job...otherwise why have it? Why give your data away if there's literally no benefit to yourself?

Both can be true- the business benefits by offering a BLD to attract more customers
And the card holder benefits by getting the discount!

Take Nandos. They discount the cardholders meal (not even theirs and their children's!) Meal by up to £4. Its mot exactly making it affordable.

I get the blc because they extended it to nhs pensioners about 3 years ago and I have a widows pension from nhs via my late husband. I had to scan and send my p60. Very useful - 1 store offers 15% discount on all its products!

Apologies if someone else has said this, but I would say that it doesn't matter who uses the gift card?

As the whole point of a gift card is to be used as a gift?

Most businesses offering blue light have a direct discount, whereas the ones offering a discounted gift card instead will know that this means the discount may be 'shared'. There's no T&Cs with the gift cards stipulating that they have to be used by the blue light holder once purchased.

I'm not trying to be pedantic, but imo I don't think gift cards being purchased under blue light and given away counts as blue light being abused.

@Breezybetty As a nurse you now have to be a junior sister - band 6 to earn more than the average 2024 UK wage.
Nurses wages are appalling for the level of responsibility you have.
You can be a harrogate bus driver and our earn mid band 5 (moderately experienced staff nurse) - that is not to disparage bus drivers but I see the posters on my way to work - as a nurse!

@Moli

Look it up - the majority of nurses really don’t have above average wages - particularly if you take into account unregistered roles bands 2 and 3.Then 4 to mid band 6 all
of which would come with a degree or further training would be up to an average UK wage outside of London.
So you have to be a moderately experienced specialist nurse or a junior sister / junior charge nurse to begin getting an average wage.

I looked up where our wage sat in relation to an average wage recently as I felt it bad fallen behind and had a real bee in my bonnet after a bad day - I’m top band 5 - experienced staff nurse and low and behold this year it’s dropped below average! I think for 2023 it was bang on average!

My mum has a Bluelight card as a retired NHS professional. To get it she had to supply details of her previous employment and her NHS pension details.

She doesn’t use the card a great deal but after receiving a pair of pyjamas from Hush as a gift she decided to buy another pair for herself online using the 10% discount they have always given to Bluelight card holders

When she requested the discount code she was directed to a company called GoCertify, but was unable to register with them as she doesnt have an NHS email. When she.contacted them she was told that their system was not set up for people like herself but that they would contact Hush to let them know of the problem. Mum contacted Hush too but as of yet they haven’t bothered to reply.
I’ve no idea whether Bluelight have decided to use GoCertify for other shops etc, but if so and you are wanting to buy online it won’t be possible to do so unless you can provide them with the necessary email address.

Like others have said, they either sign up to it or they don't. It's misleading for people who choose to go there.

That being said, I have heard alot of negativity that teachers are now part of it and can see it being the beginning of the end sadly.

I get a blc as a carer who earns 12p an hour more than minimum wage. I don’t eat out as it’s cheaper at home!😂I may be turning into my mother who always said that we had food at home when we asked for food while out.

Report them to blue light
They have kudos of being in the scheme.
They don't get to add extra stipulations.
They're in it or they're not

Agree with this. However they would n’t know from the card alone how the individual qualified and don’t have the right to request further id to discriminate. In some instances it may breach employment conditions to show it and put themselves at risk.

Weird thing is, I'm eligible for a Blue Light card as a civil servant! My only connection with the military is that I work for the MOD (well RAF)

Report them to Blue Light.

If the business doesn't agree with teachers being part of the scheme, the business needs to withdraw from it. While they remain part of the scheme, it's pretty poor of them to discriminate between individual card holders.

This.

Because as numerous people have stated it is a marketing scheme. There is no point in marketing to people who don't have money to spend. If the Blue Light Workers were all minimum wage noone would have signed up to the scheme as a business - but there are a high number of highly paid individuals in these groups.

I think if they're offering Blue Light discount - then they're offering it.

However, I'm not sure why teachers are on the list tbh?

It irks me that Carers aren't on the list (for this I mean family carers when they're paid a pittance by the government and can literally work 24/7 for nothing) - and don't qualify for any discounts. However, we have to be highly trained medically to support our family members, and without us our family members would be putting A LOT of additional strain on the NHS! Yet, we can employ additional carers to support us - for as little as a couple of hours a week and they can get a Blue Light Card! Go figure!

As someone eligible for the teacher discount (but not actually a teacher!), and dh is a firefighter, I think it's ridiculous that teachers can get the discount. I haven't signed up because I'm too embarrassed. Weird that they refused you, though.