FREE LICENSCES SCRAPPED
BBC decision will hit 300k Scots, says charity
FREE TV licences for over75s will be means-tested from August 1, the BBC has said.
Last night, a charity said the decision would hit 300,000 Scots.
The broadcaster had postponed the axing of the universal entitlement for pensioners because of the pandemic.
Outgoing director-general Lord Tony Hall said it was not the right time to introduce it in “the middle of a crisis”. But the corporation has now said the scheme will begin on August 1.
BBC chairman Sir David Clementi said: “The BBC could not continue delaying the scheme without impacting on programmes and services.
“Around 1.5million households could get free TV licences if someone is over 75 and receives pension credit, and 450,000 of them have already applied.
“And critically, it is not the BBC making that judgment about poverty. It is the Government who sets and controls that measure.
“Like most organisations, the BBC is under severe financial pressure due to the pandemic yet we have continued to put the public first in all our decisions.”
Age Scotland warned that the BBC’s decision will do damage to the lives of hundreds of thousands of older people. Director of charity services Michelle Supple said: “The timing of this announcement is atrocious and it will be one of the last things older people want to hear right now. Life has been hard enough for them in recent months, now the lifeline of their TV could be taken away.
“Around 300,000 over-75s in Scotland will shortly be faced with a new bill to contend with.
“This decision will no doubt have a significant impact on levels of loneliness as for half of all over75s their TV is their main form of company. Many older people say that they will find it difficult to pay for this new bill.” The free TV licence was introduced in 2000 but the BBC agreed to take on responsibility for funding the scheme as part of the charter agreement in 2015.
The broadcaster has said it cannot afford to take on the financial burden from the Government.
Continuing with the scheme would have cost the BBC £745million, it said, meaning the closures of BBC Two, BBC Four, the BBC News Channel, the BBC Scotland channel, Radio 5 Live and some local radio stations.
But the move provoked a swathe of criticism, with Dame Helen Mirren calling the end of the universal entitlement “heartbreaking” and former PM Gordon Brown saying “costs should be covered by the Government”.
Digital, culture, media and sport committee chairman Julian Knight said: “This mess is a result of a poor decision struck by the outgoing director-general and now Britain’s pensioners are having to pick up the cost.”
The BBC’s decision comes as the Government is set to announce its response to a consultation on decriminalising licence fee evasion.