Blind Person's Allowance

Blind Person’s Allowance is an extra amount of income you can receive tax-free on top of your personal allowance. For 2026/27 it is £3,250, up from £3,130 in 2025/26. For a basic-rate taxpayer that saves £650 a year in Income Tax, and for a higher-rate taxpayer £1,300. You can claim if you are registered blind, or certified as severely sight impaired, and if you cannot use all of it you can transfer what is left to your spouse or civil partner.

Who qualifies

The rules differ between the nations.

In England and Wales, you qualify if you are registered as blind with your local council. Being certified as severely sight impaired by an ophthalmologist leads to that registration. Being registered as partially sighted is not enough.

In Scotland and Northern Ireland, there is no local authority register used for this. You qualify if you have been certified as unable to do any work for which eyesight is essential, which your eye specialist can confirm.

You do not need to be out of work, and the allowance is available whatever your age or income, although it only has value if you have taxable income to set it against.

How it affects your tax and tax code

The allowance is added to your personal allowance. For most employees the standard £12,570 becomes £15,820, so a 1257L tax code becomes 1582L. The code is applied by your employer and your pay goes up from the next payday.

	Without the allowance	With the allowance
Tax-free income	£12,570	£15,820
Usual tax code	1257L	1582L
Tax saving, basic rate	£0	£650
Tax saving, higher rate	£0	£1,300

In Scotland, the saving depends on your top rate of Scottish Income Tax, as the extra allowance comes off income that would otherwise be taxed at that rate. Welsh taxpayers’ codes carry the C prefix, so the code would be C1582L.

The allowance is not affected by the personal allowance taper in the way the personal allowance is. Above £100,000 of adjusted net income, the personal allowance shrinks, but Blind Person’s Allowance remains.

Transferring it to a partner

If you are married or in a civil partnership and you do not have enough income to use all of your Blind Person’s Allowance, you can transfer the unused part to your spouse or civil partner. You can do this even if your partner is not blind. Ask HMRC to make the transfer; your partner’s tax code will then be increased.

This is separate from Marriage Allowance, which lets a non-taxpayer transfer £1,260 of personal allowance to a basic-rate partner. Couples can qualify for both, but they work differently. Marriage Allowance explains the conditions.

How to claim

Contact HMRC by phone or in writing. If you are registered in England or Wales, have the name of the local council you are registered with and the date of registration ready. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, have a copy of the certificate from your eye specialist.

If you were eligible in previous years but did not claim, you can ask HMRC to backdate the allowance for earlier tax years, within the time limits HMRC sets. Any tax overpaid for those years is refunded.

Once your code changes, check your next payslip. If the code is still 1257L, the personal tax account shows what HMRC has sent your employer, and tax codes explained shows how to read it.

Other support at work

Blind Person’s Allowance only reduces tax. If your sight affects your work, your employer has a duty to make reasonable adjustments, such as screen-reading software, large-print materials or changes to duties. Access to Work, a DWP grant, can pay for equipment, support workers or travel to work that goes beyond what an employer must provide. Reasonable adjustments at work and Access to Work grants explain how to ask for them.