BBC boss: 90-year-olds could face court in licence fee storm
BBC chief Tony hall has admitted 90- year- olds could be dragged through the courts for failing to pay the licence fee.
his comments come after the broadcaster’s controversial decision to strip millions of over-75s of free TV licences from June.
only those on pension credit will continue to get the benefit, meaning other older viewers who carry on watching without paying face criminal prosecution.
Appearing in front of MPs yesterday, Lord hall was forced to admit it was ‘conceivable’ the new rules could result in 90-yearolds ending up in court – but he stressed: ‘We don’t want that.’
The admission sparked the fury of charity Age UK, which said ‘older people should never have been put in this position in the first place’. The BBC agreed to take on responsibility from the Government for funding the benefit for over-75s, but drastically scaled it back. This means up to 3.7 million will now miss out.
Lord hall, who is stepping down as the BBC’s director general in the summer, was yesterday being grilled by MPs on whether he ‘was really prepared to take 80 or 90-year- olds to court’ for nonpayment of the fee, which rises to £157.50 next month.
he told the digital, culture, media and sport committee: ‘We have got a special team to make sure our communication with the over- 75s is sensitive and we’ll do absolutely everything we can to make sure they understand what they need to do.
‘I don’t want to see people going to court, of course I don’t.
‘It’s conceivable but we don’t want that. We absolutely don’t want to get there.’ The SNP’s John Nicolson had told the director general: ‘Imagine the reputational damage.
‘The distress caused to these old people... You’d be in the bizarre position of sending out your news teams to cover 90year-olds potentially up in court for non-payment of the TV licence because of a system you, Lord hall, signed up for.’
But BBC chairman Sir David Clementi said only a judge could deliver a custodial sentence, adding: ‘ The BBC cannot possibly send people to jail.’ BBC director of policy Clare Sumner said it was ‘very unlikely’ that the elderly would end up in court.
She confirmed outsourcing firm Capita would oversee the implementation of the over-75s policy. The company has come under fire for its tactics in enforcing licence fee payments.
But the BBC claimed yesterday the handling of over-75s would be led by a separate team of ‘support workers’, adding ‘sympathetic’ letters had already been sent out to those affected.
Caroline Abrahams, director at Age UK, said: ‘Whether the legal consequences are criminal or civil is immaterial, their personal distress will be the same.
‘older people should never have been put in this position in the first place.
‘Now more than ever, the Government and the BBC must sit down and broker a deal to agree a solution for all over-75s that preserves their free licences.’
Lord hall was also forced to admit to MPs that the Corporation had either lost or settled all of its recent equal pay cases, including Samira Ahmed’s tribunal victory.
he confirmed there were currently 11 gender pay tribunal cases that were being dealt with.
he also said there ‘could be’ a paring back of BBC services if coronavirus hits hard.