Citation, commencement, application and interpretation

1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Primary Ophthalmic Services and National Health Service (Optical Charges and Payments) Amendment Regulations 2008 and shall come into force on 27th October 2008.

(2) These Regulations apply in relation to England.

(3) In these Regulations—

“the POS Regulations” means the Primary Ophthalmic Services Regulations 2008( 2 ); and

“the Charges Regulations” means the National Health Service (Optical Charges and Payments) Regulations 1997( 3 ).

Amendments to the POS Regulations

2. —(1) The POS Regulations are amended in accordance with the following paragraphs of this regulation.

(2) In regulation 2(1) (interpretation), insert, after the definition of “an income-based jobseeker’s allowance” the following definition—

“ “income-related employment and support allowance” means an employment and support allowance, entitlement to which is based on section 1(2)(b) of the Welfare Reform Act 2007 (income related employment and support allowance) ( 4 ) . ”

(3) In regulation 3(2) (sight tests – eligibility), delete “or” at the end of sub-paragraph (h) and after sub-paragraph (i) add—

“ (j) he is in receipt of income-related employment and support allowance; or

(k) he is a member of the same family as a person in receipt of income-related employment and support allowance. ” .

(4) In regulation 3(4) delete “and” at the end of sub-paragraph (b) and after sub-paragraph (c) add—

“ ; and

(d) in sub-paragraph (k) “family” has the meaning given to it by regulation 2 of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008 ( 5 ) . ” .

Amendments to the Charges Regulations

3. —(1) The Charges Regulations are amended in accordance with the following paragraphs of this regulation.

(2) In regulation 1(2) (citation, commencement and interpretation)—

(a) insert, after the definition of “an income-based jobseeker’s allowance” the following definition—

“ “income-related employment and support allowance” means an employment and support allowance, entitlement to which is based on section 1(2)(b) of the Welfare Reform Act 2007 (income related employment and support allowance) ( 6 ) . ” ; and

(b) for the definition of “prisoner” substitute—

“ “prisoner” means a person who is detained in a prison, including a young offender institution, but not a secure training centre or a naval, military or air force prison, but is, at the time he receives any primary ophthalmic service on leave from that prison and for the purposes of this definition; ” .

(3) In regulation 8(3) (eligibility – supply of optical appliances), omit “or” at the end of sub-paragraph (l) and, after sub-paragraph (n), add—

“ (o) he is in receipt of income-related employment and support allowance; or

(p) he is a member of the same family as a person in receipt of income-related employment and support allowance. ” .

(4) In regulation 8(4) omit “and” at the end of sub-paragraph (b) and after sub-paragraph (c) add—

“ ; and

(d) in sub-paragraph (p) “family” has the meaning given to it by regulation 2 of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008 ( 7 ) . ” .