Some employers we speak to either have little awareness this rule even exists or assume it is optional. It is not. If your team use screens for work, you have a legal duty to provide eye tests to them. Here is what the law actually says.
The law: DSE Regulations 1992
If your team use display screen equipment, you are covered by the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992. This law has been in place for over 30 years, and it still catches employers out.
A “DSE user” is anyone who uses a screen as a significant part of their normal work. The usual marker is daily use, in continuous spells of an hour or more. That covers most desk-based roles, and it applies to remote and hybrid workers just as much as people in the office.
What you have to provide
If a DSE user asks for an eye test, you must arrange one and pay for it in full.
This means providing a full eyesight test carried out by a qualified optometrist. It means repeat tests at the interval the optician recommends, usually around every two years. You also need to arrange a test if someone reports visual difficulties they reasonably link to screen work.
Employers can choose how they provide this. You could send everyone to one nominated optician, use a voucher scheme, or let people book their own test and claim the cost back. All of these are valid options, the important partis ensuring that the process is clear so staff are not left guessing what to do.
What about glasses?
Employers only have to contribute towards the cost of glasses if the eye test shows the person needs glasses specifically for screen work, at the distance they view their screen. If their normal reading or distance glasses do the job, employers are not liable to pay for these. If they need a separate prescription just for DSE use, employers must cover the basic cost of frames and lenses.
Basic means adequate for the job, not premium. If someone wants designer frames or extras like anti-glare coatings that are not necessary for DSE work, they are required to pay the difference. Employers can choose to contribute more than the legal minimum if desired however.
One nuance is that if the glasses are useful for general life as well as screen work, employers only have to cover the portion attributable to the job. In practice, however, since this can be difficult to assess and apportion, lots of employers simply fund a basic pair outright.
What good practice looks like
Here is what we would recommend:
- Put it in writing. A short eyecare policy in your handbook removes ambiguity and shows staff what is available before they need to ask.
- Make the request route obvious. Tell staff exactly how to ask for a test, who approves it, and how the cost is covered. Do not let this become a hidden perk!
- Do not wait to be asked. The law only requires you to act on request, but flagging this proactively, especially with staff doing long stretches of screen work, costs very little and builds real trust.
- Review your DSE risk assessments regularly. The eye test obligation sits inside a wider duty to assess workstation risk. If you are doing one without the other, you are only half compliant.
The bottom line
This is a legal obligation, not a nice-to-have. If you have staff who use screens regularly and no clear, communicated process for eye tests and glasses, your team might be missing out on something they are entitled to.
It does not need to be complicated. Get a policy written, pick a delivery method, and tell your team it exists. Where people matter, this is one of the easiest ways to prove it.
Need help putting a compliant eyecare policy in place? Get in touch at enquiries@thrivelaw.co.uk or call 0113 869 8101.
