TV IS LIFELINE FOR ELDERLY

ALL readers over 75 will over the next few days receive a letter from TV Licensing informing them that free TV Licences will come to an end in June next year unless they are receiving Pension Credit.

In my opinion this is a heartless, wretched and outrageous decision by the BBC displaying total contempt for older people affecting 3.7m pensioners, including 1.1m war veterans and the most vulnerable and lonely in our society, with the threat of imprisonment hanging over their grey heads.

When one considers 100 BBC executives earn £150,000 or more annually and the additional income will top up the bosses’ gold plated pensions it beggars belief.

Following my police career, in my second life I work in the delivery of benefits and see at first-hand on home visits that many pensioners are housebound.

They live in social isolation and the TV is a lifeline and the only friend they have, making them feel more engaged with the world.

It is estimated that 650,000 over 75s on a low income who qualify for Pension Credit do not claim for a variety of reasons – ignorance, lack of IT skills or even pride.

This saved the government £1.6bn in 2016-17.

It is an easy matter to establish if you are eligible and I urge pensioners to call the helpline on 0800 99 1234 providing your national insurance number, income, investments and savings details. This benefit can be backdated three months.

I am afraid I am not optimistic about the future. As a society we should be cherishing the older generation who have contributed so much and working to find ways of making their twilight years better. But sadly the opposite seems to be the case.

I await with trepidation the winter fuel allowance, free bus passes and prescription charges all being means tested. Jim Oldcorn Great Harwood