The Blind Person’s Allowance is a special tax-free allowance for people who are blind or visually impaired. You can claim it on top of your Personal Allowance. The Personal Allowance is the first £12,570 of your income that you earn tax-free.

For the 2020/21 tax year, the Blind Person’s Allowance was £2,500 regardless of your age or income. In the 2021/22 tax year, it is £2,520.

Who is eligible for the Blind Person’s Allowance?

In England and Wales, you can claim it if you’re registered with your local council as blind or severely sight impaired (SSI). Make sure that you have a medical certificate confirming this. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, you only need the medical certificate to claim. 

Unused allowance

If your spouse or civil partner claims the allowance but doesn’t use it all (i.e. if their total taxable income is less than their total tax-free allowances), they can transfer the unused allowance to you. You can do this in any of the below situations:

• You’re married or in a civil partnership
• You live your your spouse
• Just you (not your spouse/civil partner) is blind

Furthermore, when you’re not able to live with your partner, you may still be able to claim the allowance. The scenarios where you can do this are when your partner:

• Lives in residential care
• Is in training or education away from home
• Works away from home
• Is posted for the armed forces
• Is in prison

If you’d like to transfer your allowance to a spouse or civil partner because of one of the above scenarios, you should use HMRC’s form 575.

How do I claim?

To claim the allowance, you can call HMRC on 0300 200 3301. Don’t forget that it’s not sent to you automatically so you will have to proactively get in touch with HMRC to activate this allowance.