Over-75s left in dark over withdrawal of free TV licences
NEARLY two million households are yet to be told they have been stripped of their free TV licences, campaigners reveal today.
The Silver Voices group polled 400 over-75s asking if they had had a letter from TV Licensing asking them to pay from August 1, when means-testing was brought in.
Some 40% had not, which Silver Voices says equates to around 1.8 million households UK-wide. The group also complained that whenever licences were bought, they would be dated from August 1.
Dennis Reed, the group’s director, said: “Senior citizens were left in the dark by the BBC over when free TV licences would be scrapped.
“The BBC... were considering delaying the implementation until October 1. Instead they rushed the change. In effect, TV Licensing is trying to steal free licence weeks to cover up its own incompetence.”
The Conservatives pledged at the 2017 election to protect over-75s’ free licences for the rest of that Parliament, due to run until 2022.
But the BBC had already been handed responsibility for funding the lifeline from June 2020, under a deal agreed in 2015. It said keeping licences free for all over75s would cost £745million by 2021-22 and announced that, from August 1, only over-75s who receive Pension Credit were eligible.
TV Licensing said: “Everyone who previously held a free over-75s‘ licence will be sent a letter by the end of September. Customers do not need to take any action until they have received their letter.”