End of free tv licence for over 75's

M0nica

I never applied for it. I would like to see an end of all the demeaning add-ons that suggest we old people have to be protected from ourselves to make sure we have a tv to watch for 12 hours a day, or pay for winter heating when most people spread the load over the whole year.

Add up the cost of all these extras, including prescriptions (there are such things as season tickets for meds) and then increase the Pension credit by the average amount it adds up to. Those at the bottom end would be recompensed through thePC route, many more would qualify for PC, and all its other advantages, who do not at present, and the rest of us with higher incomes would pay our own bills and if the choice on a Friday is between our pills or another couple of bottles of sherry, well it is our choice to make and we are all old enough and ugly enoughto make our own decisions.

Reading through your post M0nica, I realised that I, and probably a good few others, get a benefit that is well worth having.

Being past the state retirement age I'm exempt from pay National Insurance contributions. Looking at my paycheck for October and working out what I would have paid had I not been exempt, I was quite surprised.

Having not paid for several years we decided not to get involved online and sent a cheque off, we have heard nothing.

M0nica

I never applied for it. I would like to see an end of all the demeaning add-ons that suggest we old people have to be protected from ourselves to make sure we have a tv to watch for 12 hours a day, or pay for winter heating when most people spread the load over the whole year.

Add up the cost of all these extras, including prescriptions (there are such things as season tickets for meds) and then increase the Pension credit by the average amount it adds up to. Those at the bottom end would be recompensed through thePC route, many more would qualify for PC, and all its other advantages, who do not at present, and the rest of us with higher incomes would pay our own bills and if the choice on a Friday is between our pills or another couple of bottles of sherry, well it is our choice to make and we are all old enough and ugly enoughto make our own decisions.

I agree totally. Those of us with decent pensions can fend for ourselves. People not so fortunate should not have to scrimp and save. Is there a political party who'd support this?

Thanks cornergran, it’s just a niggle at the back of the mind

I was 75 in May, but because, at the time, the payments were due to start in June, I could not be bothered to change anything, as I would only have had 1 free month.
Of course since then the BBC put it back to August, but I still think it would be too much hassle to try and get a credit for those months that should have been free.
My fault I know, but now I have paid over and above.

Are any of the better state pensions in Europe calculated according to whatever other income there may or may not be?

I ask because I know that in Australia, you don’t get any if your other income exceeds a not very large amount. An Aussie friend of ours, comfortable but certainly not loaded, receives no state pension because of his other income.

As Grannynannywanny has said, if you are in receipt of full state pension, then Pension Credit cannot be claimed. That is for people who receive less than that amount and is top up to bring money coming in up to the amount of State Pension. It does, thought, open the door to other benefits. It is very often not claimed by those who have a right to it.
UK has just about the lowest pension in Europe.
If the state pension was raised to a decent amount then all the add-ons of Winter fuel allowance, Christmas box (£10), etc. etc. also the fantastic 25p extra amount for the over-80's could be stopped (saving a great deal in administration costs).
The BBC took over the over-75 'free' tv licence when the government decided to discontinue it. They said at the time, that it would only be a temporary measure - there was still hopes that the government would take it back, but they did not do so, but instead then cut monies to the BBC causing them to have many sharp cut-backs. This has forced the BBC to not being able to continue this for most over-75's, but have still kept paying for it for for the most hard-up (ie. on Pension Credit, etc).
Do wonder how long they will even be able to continue to do that. BBC should be applauded for taking on this cost for these last few years - the government should take it all back.

I never applied for it. I would like to see an end of all the demeaning add-ons that suggest we old people have to be protected from ourselves to make sure we have a tv to watch for 12 hours a day, or pay for winter heating when most people spread the load over the whole year.

Add up the cost of all these extras, including prescriptions (there are such things as season tickets for meds) and then increase the Pension credit by the average amount it adds up to. Those at the bottom end would be recompensed through thePC route, many more would qualify for PC, and all its other advantages, who do not at present, and the rest of us with higher incomes would pay our own bills and if the choice on a Friday is between our pills or another couple of bottles of sherry, well it is our choice to make and we are all old enough and ugly enoughto make our own decisions.

I'm always a wee bit sceptical/wryly amused about anything which includes references to ".. anyone at my golf club". To some polemicists, membership of a golf club carries with it the connotation of a smug, bourgeois, Daily Mail-reading, 'I'm all right Jack' outlook, and it's an easy way of tagging a whole section of Society as the villain of your particular piece. Why not go the whole hog and make it "...neither does any one of my disgustingly rich and snobbish fellow members of the Carlton Club"?

Pay monthly here too - about £14 - about 50p a day. Didn’t a recent thread also suggest a big proportion of GN’s can afford it and wouldn’t miss the Winter Fuel Allowance either, if it was used for something more needy?

The golf club comment is appalling. It is often those with plenty of money who are the meanest!

I had no problem at all. I paid online and I have obviously kept the post stating full payment received and thanking me.

Same here lexisgranny. Frustrating isn’t it?

Kittylester those who receive full state pension don’t qualify for pension credit or any of the additional benefits it might bring. Pension credit is a top up if a person’s state pension falls below the full state pension amount eg due to a shortfall in NI contributions.

We paid for ours online a couple of weeks before it was due. We did not hear from them, and then sent an email asking to confirm that it had gone through. Later received an email from the TV licensing Email team saying that they were working hard to respond to a large volume of emails, and there was no need to contact them again. Since then we have heard nothing, and have checked the bank who tell us that nothing has been taken out by them. Personally we like to stay within the law so we are concerned about this, particularly as our neighbour who paid by post has received hers. I wonder has anyone had problems with on line payment.

Mum is 90 so has received the free licence for 15 years, but has recently filled in the DD to pay. I had to fill it out for her as she had no idea how to do it.

Quite a few years ago I was on a camp site, where the owner was telling a couple with a whacking great motorhome, they had to pay an extra £2 a night for putting an awning up. Their reply was 'we are pensioners, we shouldn't have to pay this'. The motorhome itself must have been worth about 60k!

I had one free year- the next to go will be the winter fuel allowance I think. The money has to be clawed from somewhere so why not us?

To be honest i am so use to paying for the licence by direct debit each month i will not notice the difference. But someone who is older and has not had to pay for several years it will probably be quite a shock to have to pay this fee again each year.

I paid for mine a while ago. I had little choice so I did it. I am fortunate I am not on pension credit etc and although I still think it should not have been done, I do not run this country so I paid up.

If I belonged to a golf club, I would feel embarrassed to be heard bragging about not paying for my tv licence.

People with just their State Pension should apply for Pension Credit. They would then get a free tv licence.