Where can I use my Blue Light Card? Discounts list 2023

A Blue Light Card unlocks exclusive discounts for the NHS, emergency services, social care sector, and armed forces, as well as other workers. Here’s where you can get your Blue Light Card discounts.

If you can get huge savings on stuff you want, why wouldn’t you?

With a Blue Light Card, you can get money off your supermarket food bill, shops online and in store, restaurants, as well as access free tickets to major events all over the country.

The discounts aren’t for the general public but have been specially set up for emergency services, NHS staff, social care workers, and many other qualifying workers.

You cannot see a list of discounts before you sign up, but we share a selection of the Blue Light Card discount list so you know if it’s worth it for you.

Where can I use my Blue Light Card?

You can get access to discounts with more than 15,000 local and national retailers and businesses in the UK.

Blue Light Card holders can save money on holidays, cars, days out, fashion, gifts, insurance, phones – there is something for everyone!

More small and large companies and local businesses are added daily.

Some of their more popular top deals are from major brands:

• Asda
• Alton Towers
• Apple
• Body shop
• Boohoo
• Charlotte Tilbury
• Cineworld
• Domino’s Pizza
• Go Outdoors
• Halfords
• Haven
• Hotels.com

• Hotpoint
• JD Sports
• Lovehoney
• Myprotein
• New Look
• ODEON
• Ray-Ban
• River Island
• Samsung
• Sky
• Starbucks
• Superdry

And, if you’re planning to book a staycation, check out which is the best Haven park here.

Some discounts can be as low as 2% with Apple (although that works out as a significant saving as they sell more expensive items) with up to 50% off if you eat out at certain restaurants.

For the first time, they are running a flash sale with the Big Blue Weekend where you can make savings of up to 35% off, plus there are loads of competitions for members.

Blue Light Card discounts list

Who accepts Blue Light Card? Here is a summary of other companies where the Blue Light Card works.

Restaurants and eating out

(KFC – 20% off ended in July 2022)

Supermarkets and food

Asda is still going! You can once again get 10% off your food bill in store at Asda. Discount applies from midnight on 20th May onwards for grocery, George and Optical products.

It was due to come to an end on 31 October but has now been further extended until 31 December 2021, and extended again until 31 March 2023.

(10% off in Morrisons in store ended in January 2022)

Fashion, shoes and accessories

Home and garden

Electrical and phones

• o2 – save 25% on refresh
• EE – save 20% on handsets and SIM-only plans
• Affordable Mobiles
• e2save
• Vodaphone
• Acer
• Adobe
• Apple
• AO
• Argos
• Beats by Dr. Dre
• Beko
• Currys – 6% – 10% off

• Dell
• Garmin
• Hewlett Packard
• Hoover
• Hotpoint
• Maplin
• Ninja Kitchen
• Richer Sounds
• Samsung
• Shark Clean
• Sky TV

Motoring

• Arnold Clark car and van rental
• Bike Stop
• Enterprise
• Halfords – half price MOTs, plus other savings
• Hyundai
• Kwik-Fit

• MotorFinity
• National Express
• Protyre
• RAC
• Seat
• Volkswagen

Health and beauty

• AXA Health
• Best Gym Equipment
• The Body Shop
• Bondara
• Ernest Jones
• Hairburst
• Gym King

• Lookfantastic
• LoveHoney
• MAC Cosmetics
• Puregym
• Perfume Shop
• Revolution Beauty
• Simba Sleep

Holidays, cinemas and days out

• easyjet holidays
• Travelodge
• Village Hotels
• Chessington World of Adventures

Latest discounts and increased offers

Latest deals and increased offers currently available include:

(Check the site to ensure the offer is still live)

Latest discounts

Take a look at their Black Friday deals and Christmas seasonal offers where you can save up to 50%.

• Asda – Save 10% off in-store
• Boxt – £60 off the cost of a new boiler
• BT – Exclusive BT Broadband deals, plus up to £110 reward card
• Costco Wholesale UK – Purchase a 12 month Costco Individual membership for £33.60 inc. VAT and receive two £10 shopping vouchers
• Go Compare –  Receive an Amazon gift card worth up to £30 when purchasing qualifying insurance
• Gousto – 40% off all boxes in the first month, new customers only
• Halfords Autocentre – Free MOT with the purchase of a full or major service, or 10% off full or major services
• HelloFresh – £15 off first four boxes or 50% off the first box, then 10% off for six months
• Iceland – Save up to £6 (min. spend applies)
• O2 – 25% off o2 Refresh airtime plans
• Plusnet –  Exclusive savings on Broadband, Line Rental and SIM only contracts
• Reward Mobile – iPhone 11 64GB, no upfront cost, unlimited data for £26 per month (plus other exclusive savings)
• Rhino Home Protect – 10% off home buyers protection insurance
• Sky – Sky Q and Superfast Broadband for £30 per month (other exclusive savings available)
• Warmzilla – £100 off a new boiler
• Wilko –  Up to £15 off online (min. spend applies)
• Virgin Media – Save up to £180 on selected bundles (plus other exclusive savings)
• Vodafone – Save 15% on your airtime plan
• EE Broadband – Exclusive savings on Fibre Plus and Full Fibre Packages 

How much does a Blue Light Card cost?

The Blue Light Cards are not free, although they don’t cost a lot for the value you get back.

You pay just £4.99, which gives you access to a two year membership.

Charlotte, who is a Blue Light community member, told us:

“There are a lot of deals, some are more generous than others.

“I’ve used the JD one quite a lot as it’s 20% off full priced items, and if there is a sale, you will still get an extra discount as well.

“You do have to pay for the card, but it’s a great price at £4.99 for a two year membership.

“So you definitely get your money back in savings.”

Who can apply for a Blue Light discount card?

The Blue Light Card is not available to everyone in the UK.

You qualify if you are a paid member of staff from certain emergency services, NHS or armed forces backgrounds or if you volunteer or have retired.

Although it’s called “blue light”, it’s not just for first responders or essential workers who work in the emergency services.

Here is a list of people who can get a Blue Light Card:

Paid staff member

• NHS
• Police Service
• Ambulance Service
• Fire Service 
• HM Prison Service/HMPPS
• NHS Dental Practice
• HM Armed Forces
• MoD Civil Servant
• MoD Fire Service
• MoD Police 
• Highway Traffic Officers
• Home Office – Border Force
• Home Office – Immigration Enforcement
• Home Office – UK Visas and Immigration
• Social Care – Care Company Workforce
• Social Care – Social Worker
• Social Care – Care Home
• Social Care – Residential Care
• Social Care – Council (Working in Care Sector)
• Pharmacy Workers

Volunteer

If you volunteer in the following first aid or rescue volunteer services, you can generally apply with your ID card.

• HM Coastguard
• RNLI
• Search and Rescue
• 4×4 Response
• Blood Bikes
• St Andrews Ambulance
• St John Ambulance

Retired

If you have retired from one of the following roles, you can also apply for the card:

• Armed Forces Veterans
• Retired Police Officers
• Retired Firefighters
• Retired NHS

Other eligibility options

If you still don’t qualify, it could be that you can get access to the Defence Discount Service, the Defence Privilege Card.

This membership card offers top discounts in the same way to emergency workers, but specifically for Veterans and the Armed Forces Community.

• Serving Armed Forces 
• Reserve Forces 
• Spouses/Partners of serving personnel 
• HM Armed Forces Veterans (ex serving) 
• MoD Civil Servants 
• Bereaved Family Members 
• War/Service Widow(er)s 
• Cadet Forces (over 16) 
• NATO Personnel in the UK

Blue Light Card discount FAQs

Can you use Blue Light Card at Tesco?

There is no discount currently offered by Tesco for a Blue Light card holder.

Does Sainsburys accept Blue Light Card?

You cannot get a discount for card members in Sainsbury’s.

Can you use Blue Light Card at Asda?

Asda does not offer reductions off your food bill to card members.

Can you use blue light card at Iceland?

There is no current discount ay Iceland for Blue Light Card members.

However, they do run a 10% offer at certain times of the year, so keep a look out.

Does B&M accept the Blue Light Card?

No, B&M doesn’t offer a discount service to card holders.

Does Aldi give NHS discount?

Aldi doesn’t give an NHS discount.

However, they will accept the card as proof of employment for priority shopping times.

Can I use my Blue Light Card at McDonald’s?

McDonald’s are run as a franchise.

While there is no nationwide discount, many individual restaurants offer a discount, so check locally.

Domino’s NHS discount – get 50% off everytime

Blue Light Tickets

As a Blue Light Card account member, venues around the country offer free tickets to events.

You can pick from sports events, attractions, festivals, gigs, theatre, comedy and more.

There’s no guarantee you’ll get them, but you can put your name (and the number of tickets you want) into a ballot.

You need to sign up on the Blue Light Tickets site.

Blue Light Service Days

As an extra special way to say thank you to essential workers, first responders, NHS, emergency services, social care workers etc, major theme parks hold exclusive Service Days.

This allows any Blue Light Card Holders, plus their families, access to special weekend events in theme parks that are closed to the general public.

Tickets are usually in the autumn, are heavily discounted.

They can be for places like Bear Grylls Experience, Thorpe Park, Chessington World of Adventures Resort, Legoland Resort Windsor, and Alton Towers.

Discounted gift cards

While many deals allow you to show your physical or virtual card when shopping in a store, a lot of retailers offer discount gift cards instead.

There is a range of high street brands where you can get discounted gift cards such as Argos, B&Q, Currys, IKEA, Just Eat, M&S, Primark, Tesco and more.

Can you get an IKEA NHS discount?

Remember the discounts can change from time to time depending on special promotions.

They can be great for Christmas shopping.

You can also use the discounted gift cards at the same time as cashback sites or apps like Airtime Rewards to stack the deals.

You order the bargain and discount cards through the Blue Light Card website starting from £10.

Some retailers offer a physical gift card that is sent in the post, but many offer online discount vouchers or virtual cards sent via email.

You then need to discount code when shopping online at the checkout.

Blue Light Card Collar – pet discounts

Launched in April 2021, the Blue Light Collar was a way to get your furry friends a discount.

…it was an April Fool’s 🙂

They gave away 80 collars on social media to tie in with National Pet Month.

Your dog could apply for a special membership of “Service Dog”!

I’m not sure if they will run the promotion again, although there are still a huge range of pet-friendly best discounts.

Blue Light Card website and app

The Blue Light Card site is easy to find membership offers or buy a cheap gift card.

However, the Blue Light Card app is really useful when you’re out on the go.

You can use it in the same way as the site to shop discounts online and on the high street.

There is also a virtual card to get money off (if you leave your physical card at home).

The app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Blue Light Cards giveaways

You don’t just get random updates when you follow BLC on social media.

They regularly share giveaways across Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

The huge range of giveaways are just for Blue Light Cards holders, rather than everyone, so you’ve got a good chance of winning.