PM tells the BBC: You’ve got enough cash... cough up for over–75s’ licences
BORIS Johnson last night demanded the BBC ‘cough up’ the money to fund free TV licences for the over-75s.
The Prime Minister demanded the corporation rethink its plan to strip 3.7million pensioners of the benefit.
Mr Johnson said the broadcaster had no excuse to start making them pay the £154.50-a-year charge from next June.
It puts him in a stand-off with BBC bosses, who are refusing to back down.
The Prime Minister said the BBC had more than enough money to cover the free licences.
He added: ‘The BBC received a settlement that was conditional upon their paying for TV licences for the over-75s. They should cough up.’
Downing Street officials are now working behind the scenes to look at ways the BBC could be forced to pay up.
A source said Mr Johnson would not let the broadcaster ‘off the hook’ over its commitment on free licences.
A No 10 source said: ‘The Government agreed the licence fee settlement with the BBC in 2015. At the time, the director-general said it was a “strong deal for the BBC” and provided “financial stability”.
‘It saw BBC income boosted by requiring iPlayer users to have a licence, and unfroze the licence fee for the first time since 2010.
‘In return, we agreed responsibility for the over-75 concession would transfer to the BBC in June 2020. The BBC must honour this agreement.’
The corporation faces a huge backlash over plans to scrap the free licences. At the moment, everyone over the age of 75 is exempt from the charge – amounting to 4.6million households.
But BBC bosses insist they cannot afford to pay for free licences – a bill which would reach £745million in 2021 – without doing away with a vast range of services.
From next June the BBC has announced it will give free licences to only those over-75s who are on pension credits, just 900,000 households.
Granting free licences to only these pensioners will cut the cost to the corporation to around £250million.
The change has sparked a huge public outcry, with pensioners vowing to go to prison rather than pay the charge.
Mr Johnson is under pressure to resolve the dispute as the last Conservative election manifesto in 2017 included a promise on maintaining free TV licences. It pledged to ensure over-75s continued to receive them for the ‘duration of this parliament’, currently set to run until 2022.
Anger with the BBC over the change has been exacerbated by news that it has hiked wages for bosses and stars.
Its annual report last month revealed that the total pay bill for its 22,000 staff had soared by £83million to £1.48billion.
The number of stars paid more than the Prime Minister’s £150,000 salary rose from 64 to 75, with the on-air ‘talent’ bill up by £11million in 2018-19. Match of the Day host Gary Lineker was the BBC’s top earner, on £1.75million.