HALF a million new members can save around £800 a year at a number of retailers including Asda thanks to the Blue Light Card.
The discount card allows people in certain jobs to save money online and in store.
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Card members can save an average of over £800 per year, based on an average saving of £70 monthly on groceries and other everyday essentials.
The scheme is typically available to NHS staff, emergency services, social care workers, and armed forces personnel.
But it has just been extended to teachers too, prompting many new people to sign up for a new account.
There are over 570,000 teachers in the UK and the initial launch includes staff in most schools, but not higher education.
As soon as it was confirmed on social media that teachers are also eligible for the discount card, the website and app crashed due to “unprecedented demand” on the system.
Following the system outage, Blue Light Card tweeted: “Our sincere apologies to anyone affected by our web and app outage yesterday following unprecedented demand for our service.
“We’re happy to confirm that our apps are online and ready to welcome all our existing members as usual.
“We are still working to restore our web experience and we’ll let you know as soon as that is available.
“For those of you who want to register for Blue Light Card, our service is still in high demand so we continue to operate a queue system via our website or you can join our waiting list link below.
“We look forward to welcoming all new members into our community soon. Thank you so much for your patience.”
Who is eligible for the card?
Anyone in the following roles is eligible for the card:
- Ambulance service
- Blood bikes
- Fire service
- Highways traffic officers
- HM armed forces
- HM armed forces veteran
- HM coastguard
- HM prison and probation service
- Home Office (Borders and Immigration)
- Independent lifeboats
- MoD civil servant
- MoD fire service
- MoD police
- NHS
- NHS Dental Practice
- Pharmacy
- Police
- Red cross
- Reserved army forces
- RNLI
- Search and rescue
- Social care
- St Andrews ambulance
- St John ambulance
- Teachers excluding higher education staff
How does the scheme work?
The Blue Light Card offers exclusive discounts – including on clothes, holidays, insurance and cars – to a range of emergency workers.
You can get a physical copy of the card or use the digital version by downloading the Blue Light Card app via Google Play or the App Store.
It has a useful interactive map feature to help you find local discounts closest to your chosen location too.
You can also keep tabs on how much you’ve saved with the card which is useful if you’re looking to budget ahead of Christmas.
The money-saving card was launched in 2008 and now features a number of partners, including Apple, Alton Towers and Asda.
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Sign up to loyalty schemes of the brands that you regularly shop with.
Big names regularly offer discounts or special lower prices for members, among other perks.
Sales are when you can pick up a real steal.
Retailers usually have periodic promotions that tie into payday at the end of the month or Bank Holiday weekends, so keep a lookout and shop when these deals are on.
Sign up to mailing lists and you’ll also be first to know of special offers. It can be worth following retailers on social media too.
When buying online, always do a search for money off codes or vouchers that you can use vouchercodes.co.uk and myvouchercodes.co.uk are just two sites that round up promotions by retailer.
Scanner apps are useful to have on your phone. Trolley.co.uk app has a scanner that you can use to compare prices on branded items when out shopping.
Bargain hunters can also use B&M’s scanner in the app to find discounts in-store before staff have marked them out.
And always check if you can get cashback before paying which in effect means you’ll get some of your money back or a discount on the item.
How to register for a Blue Light Card
To be eligible for a Blue Light Card, you have to prove your profession by uploading a form of valid ID or recent payslip.
To sign up, just head to the Blue Light Card website where you’ll have to fill out a form.
Bear in mind, you’ll be asked a couple of questions, for example, about your job title and where you work.
It costs £4.99 to sign up – and after registering, you will have access to thousands of discounts for two years.
The retailers that participate in the Blue Light Card scheme can change regularly, meaning there isn’t a comprehensive list of stores you can use it at.
So it’s worth checking whether the discount is valid on the store website if you’re shopping online, or asking a member of staff when at the till in-store – the worst they can say is no.
Some of the current participating brands include:
- Apple
- Hotpoint
- JD Sports
- My Protein
- New Look
- Odeon
- Ray Ban
- River Island
- Samsung
- Starbucks
- Superdry
- Cineworld
- Domino’s
- Asda
Always make sure to shop around for better offers before making a purchase to be sure you’re getting the best deal possible.
Blue Light Card holders can also make big savings on their holidays with the following websites:
- Booking.com
- EasyJet Holidays
- Eurocamp
- Expedia
- Hotels.com
- Jet2 Holidays
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