State should pay for over-75s’ TV licences

AS a retired TV licence fee-payer in my late sixties, I believe the BBC is being unfairly criticised for stating it is likely to discontinue the scheme for free television licences for the over-75s.

The former Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, decided that Government should cease providing these licences and, instead, forced the BBC to do so during the last negotiation for the renewal of its Royal Charter.

He also forced the BBC to accept the costs of paying for the Welsh language television channel, S 4 C, and the costs of the World Service, both also previously paid for by the Government.

The Government does not own the BBC: it is a national, not a State, broadcaster. But at no time did Mr Osborne consult with the people who actually own the BBC — the millions of licence fee-payers across the UK — to discover if these charges were acceptable to them.

Mr Osborne unilaterally decided that the BBC should commit up to 20% of its licence fee income to pay for free licences for the over-75s, requiring the corporation to accept responsibility for what is, in reality, a social welfare issue.

It was a great disappointment at the time that BBC management did not fight the Chancellor on this issue, but it is now becoming clear that they cannot run the corporation effectively in today’s highly competitive media landscape if they continue to commit £750m each year of licence payers’ money to this scheme, which should be the responsibility of the welfare system and not of the world’s most famous and revered broadcaster.

IAN KENNEDY Belfast