A supplier can zero rate equipment designed solely for disabled people, specified building adaptations and related installation, repair and adaptation services when they are supplied to a chronically sick or disabled person for personal or domestic use, or to an eligible charity. The relief is not means tested and the customer does not need to be registered disabled, but the supplier should hold a written eligibility declaration. A separate 5% rate covers certain mobility aids installed for people aged 60 or over.

Where does the relief come from and who decides?

The zero rate is in Group 12 of Schedule 8 to the VAT Act 1994 and the reduced rate for older people in Group 10 of Schedule 7A. HMRC’s guidance is VAT Notice 701/7. Three conditions must all be met: the customer is eligible, the goods or services are for their personal or domestic use, and the item or work is of a kind the law relieves. Because these are zero rated supplies, not exempt ones, the supplier keeps its right to recover input tax; the distinction is explained in zero rated and exempt supplies.

Responsibility sits with the supplier. HMRC does not issue exemption certificates, will not say whether a particular person is disabled, and does not ordinarily give retailers binding rulings on specific products. Zero rating works by the supplier not charging VAT; HMRC cannot refund VAT to the customer directly. If you charged VAT in error, refund the customer and correct your records, as explained in correcting VAT errors.

Who is eligible?

A person is “chronically sick or disabled” if they have a physical or mental impairment with a long term and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out everyday activities, or a condition the medical profession treats as a chronic sickness, such as diabetes. It does not cover an older person who is not disabled, or someone only temporarily incapacitated, such as with a broken limb. A parent, spouse or guardian can buy on the disabled person’s behalf.

Charities qualify when they make the goods available to a disabled person for personal or domestic use, and for certain building work. Several situations are excluded from “personal or domestic use”:

  • goods and services used for business purposes
  • equipment made generally available to a group, such as a stair lift in a charity building for anyone who needs it
  • supplies to inpatients or residents of hospitals and nursing homes, or for their care there

The separate charity reliefs are in VAT reliefs for charities.

Which equipment can be zero rated?

The main categories are:

  • Medical and surgical appliances designed solely for the relief of a severe impairment or injury, such as artificial limbs, pacemakers, leg braces and specialist footwear, provided the person does not have to attend a hospital or nursing home for fitting.
  • Adjustable beds, lifts and hoists: electrically or mechanically adjustable beds designed for disabled people, stair and chair lifts, hoists including riser recliner chairs, and sanitary devices such as commodes.
  • Equipment designed solely for disabled people: examples include Braille embossers, text telephones, white canes and wheelchairs. Equipment designed for everyone, such as most computers, orthopaedic beds and reclining chairs, does not qualify even if it helps.
  • Computers and tablets only as part of an assistive technology system with specialist software preinstalled for the individual. Downloads are electronically supplied services and always standard rated.
  • Mobility scooters: class 1 and class 2 are zero rated; class 3 road scooters only if designed solely for disabled people. Golf buggies never qualify.
  • Low vision aids, specialist hearing equipment such as induction loops, boats adapted for disabled people, hydrotherapy pools and emergency alarm call systems.

Spectacles, contact lenses, most hearing aids and dentures are excluded by law. Parts and accessories designed solely for eligible goods, hire or lease of eligible goods, and installing, repairing and maintaining them are also zero rated. Adapting general goods to suit a disabled person’s condition is zero rated, but only the adaptation: fitting an automatic opener to a garage door relieves the automation, not the door.

Eligible incontinence products are zero rated on the shelf without a declaration, but HMRC expects a declaration or other evidence from customers buying more than 200 disposable pads, 50 washable pads, 5 collecting devices or 10 pairs of waterproof underwear.

Which building work qualifies?

For a disabled person’s private residence, the zero rate covers:

  • constructing ramps, and widening existing doorways or passages to help the person get in or move around (not new doorways, lowered thresholds or driveways)
  • providing, extending or adapting a bathroom, washroom or lavatory where necessary to suit their condition, including restoring “lost space” in another room to its original size
  • installing, repairing and maintaining a lift between floors
  • preparatory work and making good, such as the new door and frame and the immediate decoration

“Private residence” includes the garden and outbuildings and need not be the person’s only home. Kitchens, bedrooms, living rooms, carer’s rooms, central heating and replacement windows are not relieved, even when the work is for a disabled person. Architects’ and surveyors’ fees are standard rated unless part of a single design and build contract. Materials bought by the disabled person for a friend or relative to fit free are not relieved, because there is no zero rated building service to attach them to.

What should the eligibility declaration contain?

HMRC asks suppliers to obtain a written declaration from each customer with enough information to show they meet every condition, and publishes a template. The practical rules are:

  • keep the declaration separate from, or clearly distinguishable from, the order form or invoice, so signing an order is not automatically signing a declaration
  • if the person cannot sign, for example a child, a parent, guardian, doctor or other responsible person can sign for them
  • electronic declarations are acceptable, but keep evidence of where they came from, such as the sender’s email
  • no declaration is needed where the goods are funded by Disabled Students’ Allowance, but keep evidence of that funding
  • for charitable housing associations, a separate declaration is needed for each disabled person

The declaration covers the customer, not the product: it does not prove the goods qualify. If you think it is untrue, do not zero rate. There are penalties for knowingly accepting false declarations, and your sales material should not encourage customers to sign one.

What is the 5% rate for older people?

The reduced rate applies to the supply and installation of grab rails, ramps, stair lifts, bath lifts, built in shower seats or showers containing them, and walk in baths with sealable doors in the private home of a person aged 60 or over. The installer must both supply and install; repairs and general adaptations such as widening passages do not qualify, and residential homes are excluded. Anyone can pay, including a local authority or charity. The customer gives a separate written declaration that they are 60 or over.

How does this work in practice?

Illustration only. A builder quotes £12,000, excluding VAT, for a wheelchair user’s home: £3,000 to widen the hall and bedroom doorway, £7,000 to convert the bathroom to a level access wet room, and £2,000 to lower the kitchen units. With a signed declaration, the first two elements (£10,000) are zero rated. The kitchen work is standard rated at 20%, so VAT of £400 is due and the invoice should show the split clearly (see VAT invoice requirements).

What mistakes come up most often?

  • Zero rating general products because a disabled customer bought them.
  • Building the declaration into the order form or checkout terms.
  • Zero rating kitchen or bedroom adaptations, or new doorways.
  • Selling a laptop zero rated without preinstalled assistive software.
  • Zero rating supplies to care homes or the NHS under this relief.
  • Treating an older customer as eligible without a disability, rather than applying the 5% mobility aid rules where they fit.

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Sources

Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 8 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.