TV licence fee to rise by FIFTEEN pounds?

Think the licence fee is good value when you think how much it pays for, all the BBC TV stations, radio, bbc sounds and the website. No ads.
And when you think how much subscriptions to other providers like Netflix, sky, paramount and Disney plus cost it seems even better value. Presenters at ITV and Sky get paid more than BBC presenters but they don’t have to declare their earnings.

"Lefties don't want to pay for anything and expect to get everything free from the 'gummerment'" - wow what a lovely person you must be?

Lucky you, when your circumstances change, so do your political leanings - at least the 'lefties' gave us more of a decent NHS. I have had 24 lots of surgery through no fault of my own, and when Labour lost the election, it was just getting to be good. I have seen it's demise first hand!

I worked, paid tax and helped those less fortunate than myself. Being unable to work is just awful - the social isolation is the worst, I am very lonely, but scared to go out on my own since lockdown and the death of my daughter. However, have no fear, I and the rest of my ilk will soon be forced to look for and go back to work, although who would employ someone who has been out of work for over 14 years, I'm not sure, also would anyone insure me to be at work? I take many controlled drugs, am medicated with 20 tablets a night plus a very strong pain relief patch, and don't really come round again until lunchtime the following day. Know of any vacancies for doorstops? Of course, someone will say "oh it doesn't mean the likes of you", but it does, and people will be sanctioned for it eventually - the government and the DWP will have more blood on it's hands with this dreadful policy.

Then the others gave us 'austerity' and beyond - and I am literally trying to scrape by on the pittance that they think it is ok to survive on. It's not living, it is merely existing, I had no heating on last year and it is the same now - I'm literally being kept alive with a heated throw. This 'caring and compassionate Conservative Government' gave the disabled £150 towards the cost of living, and mine went on paying money back that I had to borrow when my budget for energy was £80 a month which left me with the grand total of £31.88 a week for food after paying my bills. I wrote to my MP - the one that claimed £3500 for heating his 2nd home - unsurprisingly I got no response.

So no, I can't really pay, but do, although don't watch much of it other than dramas and Strictly. I suppose I could cancel and rejoin next year when Strictly comes back on ... no there's a thought.

There by the Grace of God go you ...

£15 isn’t too much to pay, it’s only 3-4 cups of coffee out each month

Your situation is not the fault of the government is it?

£15 is a lot for people like pensioners and those not earning a huge salary with everything else going up again like utilities and council tax this will make it hard to find the money to pay for tv that could be the only source of entertainment they have

Polly4t42

£15 isn’t too much to pay, it’s only 3-4 cups of coffee out each month

"it's only 3 - 4 cups of coffee out each month"

God, some people just don't have a bloody clue! I wish ...

I’m not sure how much you expect the government to provide MadeinYorkshire. You say you’re afraid to go out but on another thread just now you talked of parking your car. Cars are more expensive to run than the cost of 3 or 4 coffees. I really don’t understand what you’re saying,

Germanshepherdsmum

I’m not sure how much you expect the government to provide MadeinYorkshire. You say you’re afraid to go out but on another thread just now you talked of parking your car. Cars are more expensive to run than the cost of 3 or 4 coffees. I really don’t understand what you’re saying,

Oh come on. If someone is disabled or suffering ill-health, a car is a necessity, not a luxury.

Buttonjugs

I pay £3.99 for ad free tv on ITV and Channel Four (each). Why do the BBC need more than twice that?

Is that £3.99 a week, month or year?

Doodledog

Germanshepherdsmum

I’m not sure how much you expect the government to provide MadeinYorkshire. You say you’re afraid to go out but on another thread just now you talked of parking your car. Cars are more expensive to run than the cost of 3 or 4 coffees. I really don’t understand what you’re saying,

Oh come on. If someone is disabled or suffering ill-health, a car is a necessity, not a luxury.

I don't often agree with GSM, but I don't think that's the point she's making.

Germanshepherdsmum

Your situation is not the fault of the government is it?

*Germansheperdsmum - Are you referring to me? If so, yes it is the fault of the government and their policies, and also misdiagnosis from the NHS over several years causing me to be completely wrecked, but nobody meant me any harm ... it's left me unable to work and led me to have to exist, as that is what it is, on disability benefits.

Scope's Disability Price Tag Report in 2023 has stated that
"On average, disabled households (with at least one disabled adult or child) need an additional £975 a month to have the same standard of living as non-disabled households."

Disability benefit payments, like Personal Independence Payment (PIP), are designed to help offset these costs. However, even after taking PIP into account, the average disabled household (including at least one disabled adult or child) faces EXTRA costs of £975 per month.

It's people to do your cleaning, gardening, dog walking, jobs around the house that you cannot do - my house hasn't actually been 'cleaned' since July as I cannot afford to have anyone in to do it. I have a roof over my head that I own outright, but I can't afford to maintain nor improve it in fact I have 6 walls that are still bare plaster that need decorating

That's why I get cross with the people who say things like "it’s only 3-4 cups of coffee out each month". Some of us can't even afford one sadly ...

You are correct growstuff. I recognise the necessity of a car but I can’t square what MiY says about not going out and only having enough money to exist with driving and running a car - unless it’s provided foc by the government she hates and which doesn’t give her enough money of course.

Please please please don't push for the end of the BBC. It is a sad battered old thing now, doing the govt's bidding (have you seen the Board?), but there are still many gems. And radio, I would say, is better than anywhere else in the world (I know the licence is for TV, but I fear losing that would just begin the chipping away of the whole institution, as has already happened with the world service. We have lost so much of our cultural value in the past 13 years, let's hang on to what little we have left.

Germanshepherdsmum

You are correct growstuff. I recognise the necessity of a car but I can’t square what MiY says about not going out and only having enough money to exist with driving and running a car - unless it’s provided foc by the government she hates and which doesn’t give her enough money of course.

Ah, I think I see what you mean. I read it that you were suggesting that someone who can afford a car shouldn't complain about the BBC licence fee. Sorry if that's not what you meant.

I agree with you there MIY. I am disabled but not living on the breadline fortunately. However, I have expenses other people just don’t have so I always have to be careful. The DLA is useful and I’m not complaining but it doesn’t go anywhere near to paying for the help I need.

I think the answer is to campaign for an increase in DLA, not to cut the funding to the BBC. I agree with Pinkhousegirl that the BBC is worth fighting for, and no rise in the fee is tantamount to a cut in these inflationary times.

Sorry that my post was ambiguous Doodledog.

Well said.

Germanshepherdsmum

I’m not sure how much you expect the government to provide MadeinYorkshire. You say you’re afraid to go out but on another thread just now you talked of parking your car. Cars are more expensive to run than the cost of 3 or 4 coffees. I really don’t understand what you’re saying,

Yes I am afraid to go out, since lockdowns and then my daughter dying - I do go out in my car (Motability, which is NOT free for anyone that thinks it is, I pay towards it every month like a lease agreement, I have done just over 11,00 miles in over 4 years, so you can see how much I use it) I usually go out once a week to see my mum and/or go to the doctors in the same village. They are my only safe places, but even then it takes a lot for me to leave the house. Anywhere else and I need someone with me as my anxiety is just too much now. I'm usually in alone for 6 days out of 7, except for the 45 minutes that my carer is here. If I didn't have that car, then I would be completely housebound.

As I said above, because I'm unable to do much now, I have to get people in to do things for me, and that's not cheap, so it can take ages to put a bit back in order to get things done. My oven blew up last October but I manage with a hob, microwave and toaster as can't really manage to cook much anymore. At the same time my downstairs macerator toilet also went faulty. A year ago that would have cost me £119.40 for them to set foot over the doorstep, never mind parts. It will be more now. That would have been a whole month's food money as the DWP were paying me incorrectly, so it didn't get done. I can wee in it - I will leave it to your imagination as to what happens with the rest. I can't access the one upstairs.

I have a budget of £100 for energy, but it costs a bit more than that to just run my electrical appliances - I do a wash, a tumble dry and a dish-wash once a week on a Sunday when I can get it half price. No heating I can't afford that.

Someone on minimum wage working a normal week would get over £400 a week less tax and NI, the disabled get just over half that but have more costs - I have tried to find ways to increase my income, but you can't. It would be nice to have a lodger - I have 3 spare bedrooms, but if I did I'd have to put my heating on, provide a cooker, and the Council Tax would go up; but the govt desperate for more housing would only let me keep £25 a week, as they will take away £ for £ any money that I took from it over that - so it wouldn't cover the CT or the heating, and it would end up costing me more! Thought about the Ukrainian Scheme, but I would have to pay to sponsor someone apparently, so that too was a no go scenario. Ridiculous!

Why am I even trying to justify my existence? Because people don't have a bloody clue what it is like to be poor ...

I think its worth £3 a week just for the radio

In 1998 I was a fit and healthy woman with a good job, then things started to go wrong.

In 2023 I look like shit, I feel like shit, and half the time I am covered in shit, there is no joy left at all. I'm existing because I still have my mum, had I not, I would have joined my daughter.

Some home work MiY? Have you investigated the possibility of that? Even volunteering from home to ease the isolation. Maybe the new proposals will assist you. I am aware from what you have said previously that your situation could have been very different - but is that the fault of the government? No.

The BBC is far from perfect, but I do not want to get my radio/TV news from the likes of the Murdochs, GMB, etc. give me the Beeb anyday. Also, look at the percentage increase in pay for platforms, which puts the increase in the licence into perspective. Restore the free licence to those who need it, and to say the savaged BBC 'chose' to take it away ignores the cuts imposed by this ghastly government. Of course they don't like the BBC, because despite their imposition if their pals in senior places there remain reporters and programme makers with integrity who work there. I rely on radio 4 especially for their great programmes and also rate many documentaries that the TV companies make. Take your grubby mitts off it Tory party.

Germanshepherdsmum

Some home work MiY? Have you investigated the possibility of that? Even volunteering from home to ease the isolation. Maybe the new proposals will assist you. I am aware from what you have said previously that your situation could have been very different - but is that the fault of the government? No.

Such compassion GSM.

MiY said that she would like to work MayBee.