This page lists discounts for key workers: NHS and healthcare staff, police, fire and rescue, teachers, supermarket staff, government staff, carers, social workers, and delivery and transport workers. Most of these groups can verify here with a work email and a six-digit code, valid for 12 months, and then unlock offers marked “Unlock with Vouchernaut” in one tap. The others can't verify here yet, and each listed card says who checks.
Who counts as a key worker?
"Key worker" means different things to different stores, so the eligibility note on each card matters. During Covid, the Department for Education's list of critical workers, first published on 19 March 2020, set out whose children could still go to school: health and social care, education and childcare, key public services, local and national government, food and other necessary goods, public safety and national security, transport, and utilities, communication and financial services.
That list was for school places only, and GOV.UK withdrew it on 1 April 2022. A similar list now sits in the DfE's emergency planning guidance, for deciding who gets face-to-face school places if attendance has to be limited. Retailers write their own definitions: one brand's key worker discount, for example, covers healthcare professionals, teachers and education staff, police, fire and armed forces, delivery, transport and government workers, and charity and social care workers, with the categories set by the company that runs its checks.
Which key workers can verify by email?
Groups with recognised work addresses verify with a code. You type your work email, we send a six-digit code to it, and once you type the code in you're verified for 12 months. The check accepts:
- NHS and healthcare: nhs.net (NHS.net Connect, formerly NHSmail), nhs.scot, hscni.net and addresses ending nhs.uk
- Police: addresses ending police.uk
- Fire and rescue: a list of UK fire and rescue services' domains, since services don't share one
- Schools: addresses ending sch.uk and a list of academy trust domains
- Supermarkets: a list of the supermarket groups' work domains
- Government: addresses ending gov.uk, gov.scot, gov.wales or llyw.cymru
Personal addresses such as Gmail or Outlook can't show where you work, so the check refuses them. If you're signed in, the status stays on your Vouchernaut account; as a guest, it lasts for that browser session, and you can keep it on an account afterwards. Brands only learn that you're verified, not your email address, unless you choose to share your details for a particular offer.
What if your job can't verify by email yet?
Carers, social workers, and delivery and transport workers will verify with a document rather than an email, and that check isn't available yet. The same goes for anyone whose work address isn't on our lists. Until it's ready, the store-run discounts on this page are the route, and each card says whether it needs a Blue Light Card or the store's own check. Blue Light Card's social care and community category covers social care workers, residential care workers, the homelessness workforce and volunteers, and membership costs £4.99 for two years.
How does one status cover key worker offers?
Key worker offers you unlock with Vouchernaut can accept a status from any of the groups this page covers, and each card lists the groups it accepts. If you've verified as NHS staff, a healthcare worker, police, fire and rescue, a teacher, supermarket staff, government staff or the armed forces, that status unlocks those offers in one tap, for as long as it lasts.
Store-run key worker discounts work differently: each store decides which jobs count, and its card on this page says who checks. A store's key worker offer may cover some of these groups and not others, so its terms are worth reading before you claim. Vouchernaut isn't connected to the government, the NHS or any employer or discount scheme named here.
