Being registered as sight impaired
How certification (CVI) and registration work, what the two levels mean and the help registration opens up.
Two separate steps
Registration starts with a hospital eye consultant. If your sight loss meets the criteria, the consultant completes a Certificate of Vision Impairment, called a CVI in England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland use their own forms. With your permission the certificate goes to your local council, which adds you to its register and contacts you about support. The certificate is the medical step. The register is the council step. Being certified does not automatically register you, so check the council has received the form.
The two levels
Sight impaired, formerly partially sighted, and severely sight impaired, formerly blind. The level depends on how well you see with glasses and how much of your visual field remains. Most people on the register have some useful sight. Registration as severely sight impaired does not mean seeing nothing.
What registration opens up
- A visit or assessment from the council's sensory or rehabilitation team, covering mobility, daily living skills and equipment.
- Help with benefits such as Personal Independence Payment or Attendance Allowance, where you meet the criteria.
- A 50 per cent reduction in the TV licence fee for people registered as severely sight impaired.
- Concessions such as a disabled person's railcard, free or reduced bus travel and the Blue Badge scheme, depending on your area.
- Free NHS sight tests and help with the cost of glasses.
- Tax allowances for people registered as severely sight impaired.
Support without registration
You do not have to be registered to ask for help. Low-vision assessments, Eye Clinic Liaison Officers, sight-loss charities and council rehabilitation teams can all see people whose sight does not meet the registration threshold. If daily tasks have become hard, ask.
Driving
If you are certified as sight impaired you must tell the DVLA, or the DVA in Northern Ireland, and in most cases you will not meet the legal standard to drive. Check the official rules rather than assuming either way.
Living with sight loss GOV.UK: driving eyesight rules
Sources
Checked 4 October 2026. Official pages change, so follow the NHS page for the current position.
Educational information, not medical advice. Not yet clinically reviewed. Your own eye-care team's advice comes first.