Free TV licence to go?

I think free TV licences and winter fuel allowance should be means tested i used to clean for a couple who saved their state pension up for holidays, owned 2 cars jags, and had a big house with me as cleaner ,had gardeners etc,
I have just turned 75 and get a basic state pension, couldnt afford a car and rely on my bus pass
The first thing this conservative Government did [David Cameron]was knock winter fuel allownce down by £50

I have a bus pass , but very few buses on our route ! I complained vociferously the last time one was cancelled , much to DSs embarrassment ......... he is a local bus inspector . I used to use the bus to get to my morning Art Class , till they decided that these "Leisure Painters" were a waste of space and cancelled the class ... sigh ... and we were paying full price for the class

I think we should just be given our money and then left to spend it as we choose. I do not have a bus pass because I have always been prone to travel sickness and my biggest problem is with buses.

That is the first time I have heard of free swimming for over 60's. Definitely not in London or certainly not NW London.

Yes, I can go swimming for free here in Manchester. A good example of joined up thinking, keeping older people healthy and less of a strain on other services.

As we're thinking of other benefits as well, I've just been googling the long-gone national free swimming for over 60s scheme, which DH qualified for 4 months before it was scrapped. It applied to children too, of course. I'm surprised (and a bit jealous) to see that swimming is still free for our age group in so many areas, but not here (nor do I get the free bus travel that most of the country's over 60s seem to enjoy). DH still goes, but now just once a week, and apparently often has the local pool to himself, whereas it was busy in the days of the scheme. Surely encouraging older people to exercise and keep fit would have benefitted the country in the long term?

Right or wrong, the free TV licence for over 75s is a social policy, so the BBC can't decide by itself to discontinue it.
That is up to the Government, the Govt told the BBC that they (the BBC) should pay for it. I don't know what would happen if the BBC refused to go on paying.

We could qualify as my husband is over 75, but as the licence is in my name wehave chosen to carry on paying it.

(Actually I would probably pay it just to watch Bodygard!)

Although I'm not 75 yet, I know plenty of weathy over-75s and I can't see why they shouldn't be paying for their TV licence. I can afford to pay for mine, and that isn't going to change when I'm 75. If some pensioners can't afford it, the licence could be free to those on certain benefits, or those with only the State pension.

The same applies, in my opinion, to the Winter Fuel payment, and the ludicrous £10 Pensioners' Christmas Bonus should be scrapped too. (You didn't know about this? It's just paid into your bank, with no notfication.) The comfortably-off don't even notice it, far less trot off to treat themselves to a packet of crackers and a Christmas pudding.

The bus pass is whole nother issue and probably deserves (or has even had) a separate discussion. It's not just a transport subsidy, it gets older people out and about, helps prevent loneliness and isolation, reduces traffic congestion by encouraging us to leave our cars at home and get used to bus travel - and to get rid of our cars entirely when we're no longer safe to drive. If they scrap it, many older people won't get out much, or will persist in driving when they ought to give up.

But, we need at least one channel which is advert free!

I rarely watch television but couldn’t live without my radio (or my Alexa) . I agree the licence scheme is very outdated.

Perhaps it should be by income? I find the television great company being alone (apart from my beloved bearded collie). I am quite selective in my viewing I watch between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. as a rule. If I went to the cinema or theatre every evening it would cost a fortune, so good value in my opinion. I don't pay for the licence.

Exactly what MOnica said.

DH was 75 in May so we qualified for the free tv licence. I said at the time they will probably scrap it soon now. It’s no big deal to us as long as they use the money they save wisely.

I never watch live television, BBC news is always biased, nor do I listen to the radio.

I don't agree its demeaning MOnica but I do think it would be a good idea to scrap all the odds and ends with an increase across the board. This would let the BBC off the hook though.

Why should the over 75s get free tv licences just because they are over 75? Many of us can well afford to continue paying it. It should be limited to those on pension credit and disability benefits.

I would rather than all these demeaning benefits; free tv licences. winter fuel allowances etc, were scrapped. They suggest that we, older people, cannot be trusted to manage our own money unless someone puts it into special little boxes for us. They should be replaced by an increase in the state pension of their monetary value spread across a year.

I think the licence fee system is outdated now. How much does it cost to administer?

Surely 99% of the population watch or listen to the BBC at some time - it should be financed from general taxes. I know there's a board of governers and supposedly editorial independence but it's basically an arm of government.

I would imagine all those who have the free licence will keep it and people coming up for 75 in 2020 won’t get it. DH will be 75 in 2020 ?

The TV licence should be abolished, they are serving up exactly the same rubbish as the commercial channels, it really has gone downhill in recent years.
Then the BBC fat cats would have to work for a living.

The responsibility for funding it has been passed to the BBC now though, absent and they say they can't afford it

I think the free TV licence for the over 75s was introduced as a way of giving a little more money to pensioners, like the winter fuel allowance, without increasing the state pension into a taxation bracket.

I think that Granny23 meant that the timing was rather out of place. No sympathy was shown it was money, money, money.

And why shouldn't they go? Granny23 what has it got to do with being 'a grieving and lonely widow'? Many women have lost the right to pensions at 60 despite working all their lives. They have to wait till 66 or 67 and therefore forfeit their rights to bus passes etc at 60 too but I don't see many complaining on their behalf. Get a grip, it's a tv licence not the right to life saving drugs.

I had just resolved to stop paying our TV licence as a protest against the relentless Unionist Bias of the BBC, when Loh & Behold a letter arrived saying that we need no longer pay because DH had turned 75. The same month my Sister got a letter to say that she was now liable for a TV licence as her (10 years older) Dh had recently died.

Neither of us could make any sense of the logic behind this, where a grieving and lonely widow was suddenly having to stump up for the licence.

I agree, many of your mother's age and younger are surviving on tiny pensions and yes, if a friendly face on TV helps the hours go by- good luck.

I will be eligible next Saturday! Trust the BBC to be thinking of charging us again. Some of the salaries are mind blowing.