The BIGGER Issue Puts Barriers to Eye Care in Focus

Sometimes, bringing an issue into focus means making it bigger. Specsavers and Big Issue have created The BIGGER Issue, with 3,000 limited-edition copies printed at twice the magazine’s usual size. Its cover features Big Issue vendor Mihaela shown both blurred and in focus, reflecting the reality of living with uncorrected sight problems.

The scale draws attention to a problem that is often overlooked. Specsavers research found that 44% of people experiencing homelessness have either never had an eye test or have not had one for at least five years. Although around two-thirds are eligible for NHS-funded eye care, proof-of-address requirements, complicated paperwork, limited access to phones or email, concerns about cost and discomfort attending appointments can all keep essential care out of reach.

The consequences can be stark. Last year, a man who had been sleeping rough arrived at a Specsavers clinic wearing four pairs of reading glasses, stacked one on top of another. It was the only way he could bring the world into any kind of focus. His actual prescription, it turned out, was +8. When he came back to collect a single pair, made up properly at last, he became emotional. It is hard to picture moving through your day like that, and harder still to imagine how long he had been managing it.

Stories like his are why Specsavers’ Charity VIP scheme exists. When you are sleeping rough, or moving between hostels and other people’s sofas, an eye test is rarely the priority it should be. Glasses get lost, broken or stolen. The cost feels out of reach. And the longer sight goes uncorrected, the more it narrows everything else: reading a letter, crossing a road safely, holding down work.

The scheme set out to clear those barriers away. It began in November 2022, when Specsavers and Big Issue agreed on a deliberately simple idea: every one of the 1,200 vendors could walk into a store for a free eye test, free glasses and free ear wax removal, with no questions asked and no fixed address required.

It has since grown well beyond that starting point. Thanks to the collaboration between Specsavers and its charity partners, more than 7,000 people affected by homelessness have now been supported through the programme. Around 150 stores and home-visits businesses have provided free health checks, glasses and hearing devices, and more than 400 of the store’s colleagues have volunteered their time to make it happen.

The biggest change comes this year. Until now, the scheme was open only to people referred by a charity partner. From 2026, Specsavers has launched a new scheme giving anyone experiencing homelessness access to free eye and ear care at all 943 stores across the UK and Ireland.

That word, VIP, is well chosen. It is meant to be respectful and discreet, a signal to staff that this person should be treated like any other patient while having the cost covered. If someone says they are a Charity VIP, that is enough. They don’t need ID, a fixed address or a GP referral: a store can use its own address on the system if it needs to.

The point is to remove the small bureaucratic hurdles that quietly keep people from accessing the care they are entitled to.

This is a hugely important step, because most homelessness is invisible. According to research by Crisis, 95% of it is hidden: people sofa-surfing, staying in hostels or living in temporary accommodation, none of which looks like rough sleeping.

The health stakes are high, too. Around 14% of people experiencing homelessness have a diagnosable eye condition, roughly 10 times the rate in the general population. Around one in 10 Charity VIP patients will be referred to a hospital or GP, against a high street average of 3.7%. These are often people who have gone years without an eye test, with treatable conditions that have been left to worsen.

And because a busy high street optician can feel daunting, more than 100 stores have run quieter out-of-hours clinics in the evenings or on Sundays, and mobile teams take portable equipment into hostels, day centres and shelters.

A scheme that ran last year across Yorkshire in collaboration with the charity Vision Care visited 16 locations, carried out 271 eye tests and dispensed 231 pairs of glasses. Of those seen, 88% said they would not have accessed eye care if it had not come to them.

The scheme also ran successfully in Cardiff, and additional targeted intervention clinics in London and Birmingham are planned for later this year with Vision Care.

The difference it makes is rarely abstract. “They made me feel really welcome. I genuinely felt like a VIP guest,” says Jack, who used the scheme in Bristol. “I was treated like a human being, and that’s not always the case everywhere.”

Mick, in Glasgow, puts it more plainly: “I recommend people should do it because it could save their sight.”

Specsavers’ founders, Doug and Dame Mary Perkins, built the business on a belief in accessible, affordable care for everyone. The Charity VIP scheme ensures that people who are most likely to fall through the cracks can still access care. Poverty and homelessness should never be a barrier to seeing clearly or hearing properly.

If you are experiencing homelessness, you can book free eye and ear care through the Specsavers online form, or by walking into any store and asking about the Charity VIP scheme.

Further Information

If you know anyone who would benefit from an eye or ear test, please visit specsavers.co.uk/about/charitable-partnerships/homelessness/charityvip for more information or to book an appointment.