Tomato Glasses Cost & NHS Voucher: What Parents Actually Pay

Quick answer: A Tomato Glasses frame is £99, with 25% off for anyone 18 or under — £74.25. In Scotland the NHS eye examination is free to everyone, and children’s lenses are covered in full by the NHS optical voucher. So for a child under 18, the complete cost is £74.25 and nothing else, unless you choose to upgrade the lens.

Prices correct as of August 2026. NHS voucher rules and lens upgrade prices can change, so we review this page regularly — if you’re reading this some time later, please confirm current pricing with the practice on 0141 943 3300.

That’s the whole answer. The detail underneath it is where the value actually sits.

Why Scotland is different

Most of what you will read online about the cost of children’s glasses is written to English rules, and it is worth knowing that they do not apply here. In the Scottish Government’s own words: “Scotland is the only country in the UK to provide free universal NHS funded eye examinations. These are available to anyone ordinarily resident in the UK and to eligible overseas visitors.”

So the examination itself costs nothing, for your child and for you. Separately, children under 16 — and 16 to 18-year-olds in full-time education — qualify for an NHS optical voucher toward the cost of lenses. At Peter Ivins Eye Care that voucher covers a child’s lenses in full.

What’s included even at the voucher price

Every child’s lens we dispense — including one supplied entirely on the voucher, with no top-up — is a Nikon lens in 1.56 index, impact resistant, with full UV protection and an anti-reflection and anti-scratch coating as standard. That specification isn’t universal; it’s worth asking any practice directly what’s included at the voucher price before assuming it matches.

What upgrading buys you

Upgrades start at £30, and there are really two separate things worth upgrading, for two separate reasons.

A thinner lens. Moving from the standard 1.56 index to 1.6, 1.67 or 1.74 makes a real difference to thickness and weight, particularly at a moderate or high prescription. In a child’s frame, where the lens makes up a large share of the total weight, this is the single upgrade most likely to affect whether the glasses actually get worn.

A more durable coating. Nikon SeeCoat Next is a step up from the standard coating — harder, easier to clean, better suited to what a child’s glasses go through, which is to say cleaned on a school jumper most days for a couple of years.

Better optics. Moving from a stock lens (prefabricated) to a surfaced lens (custom-made, made to measure), and moving from spherical to aspheric to bi-aspheric improves both the cosmetic appearance and weight, but also how clearly your child sees across the lens. This becomes more important with more complex prescriptions.

On two-for-one offers

You’ll see these advertised elsewhere, and it’s worth understanding the arithmetic before assuming they’re better value. An NHS optical voucher is a fixed amount; it doesn’t double because a practice offers two pairs instead of one. The same budget gets split across two frames and two sets of lenses, and something in that split usually gives — most often the lens index or the coatings. Worth asking directly: what index is the second pair, is it impact resistant, does it carry the same coatings as the first. Sometimes the answer is yes. Often it isn’t.

We’re glad to supply a genuine spare pair where it’s warranted — a high prescription, an active child, glasses that are functionally essential rather than occasional. That’s a different decision from a free second pair bundled in regardless.

Questions we are asked about this

Are Tomato Glasses free on the NHS?

Technically no. The NHS provide a voucher with a value. The value is set by the complexity of the spectacle prescription. Some practices will provide frames and lenses within the value of the NHS voucher – thus ‘free’ spectacles. Tomato Glasses spectacle frames are priced at £99, or £74.25 for anyone aged 18 or under. The NHS optical voucher usually covers a child’s lenses and in Scotland the eye examination itself is free to everyone. So the total is the frame price and nothing further, unless you upgrade the lens.

Do I have to pay for my child’s eye test in Scotland?

No, and neither do you. Scotland is the only part of the UK where NHS-funded eye examinations are universal — available to anyone ordinarily resident in the UK. There is no charge for a child’s eye examination at Peter Ivins Eye Care, and no charge for an adult’s either.

Does private health insurance cover children’s frames?

Some policies include an optical benefit that can be put toward frames or lens upgrades, but it varies enormously and most standard health policies do not. It is worth checking your own policy wording. In practice, the NHS optical voucher does the heavy lifting for children in Scotland and most families need nothing further.

What is the least a pair can cost?

For Tomato Glasses spectacle frames £74.25 — the under-18 frame price, with the lenses covered in full by the NHS optical voucher and the eye examination free. That is a complete pair of Nikon lenses in 1.56 index, impact resistant, UV protected, with anti-reflection and anti-scratch coating, in a frame fitted by a dispensing optician. There are exceptions to this rule like use of a small frame supplement. This would be explained by our dispensing opticians.

Booking

Call 0141 943 3300 or book online to arrange an eye examination and, if glasses are needed, a dispensing appointment straight after. We are at 72 Drymen Road, Bearsden, Glasgow. Full range and size detail is in our Tomato Glasses guide.