Northern Ireland Department of Health to launch consultation on Universal Credit

The Northern Ireland Department of Health will launch a consultation on reinstating automatic passporting for those eligible to receive free sight tests and free Health Service dental treatment on Universal Credit (UC) in January.

The announcement means that Northern Ireland is a step closer to ending a legal technicality that has seen the number of patients on benefits receiving free sight tests drop by more than 23,000 annually since the removal of automatic access in 2017.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health confirmed: “The department is now making final preparations to launch a short public consultation in January on the proposed changes to our legislation, with the associated legislative process commencing quickly thereafter.”

The consultation will be held as part of efforts by the Department of Health to update the Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004.

“The focus of this work is to reinstate automatic passporting for those eligible to receive free sight tests and free Health Service dental treatment through the Help with Health Costs Scheme following the migration of their benefits to UC,” the spokesperson shared.

This would replace the current system in Northern Ireland, where individuals who have migrated from a legacy benefit to UC apply for the Help with Health Costs Scheme through the Department of Health’s Low Income Scheme to have their eligibility assessed and confirmed before treatment.

The Department of Health spokesperson described this arrangement as a “complex paper-based system which has implications for some of our most vulnerable people.”

“There is a need to update legislation to reinstate automatic passporting for help with health costs to those eligible,” the spokesperson highlighted.  

Addressing inequality

A series of articles by OT has outlined how the requirement for UC recipients to complete a 22-page document has created significant hurdles for patients on benefits attempting to access free sight tests.

In August, OT revealed that the number of benefit recipients accessing free eye care plummeted following the removal of automatic access in 2017 – confirming anecdotal reports that the need to fill in an HC1 form was resulting in a barrier to care.

Previous reporting has outlined how the Department of Communities spent £28,092 printing the HC1 form in 2023, with the average annual printing cost doubling after the removal of automatic access to free eye tests and dental care for Universal Credit recipients.

OT also revealed that a patient on Universal Credit was among 24 cases taken to court as part of efforts to recover eye care and dental costs by the Business Services Organisation.

Optometrist, Sam Baird, who has been campaigning for change in Northern Ireland, described the announcement of the consultation as a “win.”

“We have changed things for the better,” he said.

In a statement on her website, Alliance Strangford MLA, Kellie Armstrong, welcomed the news of the consultation.

“Universal Credit eye care entitlement, denied to NI claimants since 2017, will at long last be brought into line with the rest of the UK,” she said.