Around 2,000 independent practices celebrated earlier this month after ASE Eye Care Plans won a four- to six-year contract for its affiliates to provide eye care for the 125,000 staff of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
ASE’s managing director Jonathan Kent said it was excellent news for its dedicated independent network of opticians. The company had achieved a 97.5 per cent rating in the DWP’s process of selecting a new service provider. Most of the multiples’ corporate divisions had competed for the business, he said.
The staff will be able to get a restricted range of single-vision, bifocal and varifocal spectacle lenses as long as they incorporate a correction for intermediate VDU viewing distances.
Aberdeen-based Duncan & Todd had previously held the contract for nearly 10 years, working at DWP sites, said Kent.
He added that the volume of private eye examinations funded by corporate employers continues to grow.
ASE will give the DWP employees access to a choice of opticians in England, Wales and Scotland.
Kent said that the 125,000 DWP staff could be expected to generate 30,000 visits a year to ASE’s affiliated opticians.
ASE was not touting for new affiliates, said Kent: ‘We are not actively looking, but we are always happy to register people.’
He said that there was a reasonable chance that ASE would sign up an interested local practice, although some older opticians disliked the capped fees offered for ASEs’ corporate work.
The deal includes staff from Jobcentre Plus, the Pensions Service, Child Support Agency and Health & Safety Executive.