over 75s TV licence

That is very good news and must be a great relief annsixty.

That is great news Ann

An update to my previous post.
My H is now a permanent resident in the care home.
The SW rang me on Thursday but could give me no information about fees.
I rang the Finance Dept of my LA and spoke the dept dealing with charges for Adult Services, they confirmed that I can keep half of my H's occupational pension or if that wasn't adequate I could claim benefits.
I am so relieved as I will manage ok with my share of his pension.
I shall not be cruising round the world ,but then, I wasn't before.

Maybe if I didn't have "free" tv I would get up out of this chair and move more ? or would I be like my wee granny ? I remember her in the corner beside the fire with the darning basket beside her reading the paper with the aid of a huge magnifying glass !

I didn't know bus passes could be renewed at a library, round here it would be difficult to find a library open.. As for tv licences they are free for now. £3 per week is only just a bit more than one coffee out. I was looking forward to my free licence. ?

The government is hell bent on privatising all goods and services - starving them of cash and then offering intervention by private firms (that they and their donors own).

But have we really seen this route to be beneficial to ordinary people? Think: Serco, Group 4, Virgin trains, ferry companies with no ships. And is more ITV really the answer? The BBC is renowned worldwide. Are we going to let it go?

Following this well worn route of starving services, the government is to cut £800 million BBC funding over the next 4 years. BUT it has wasted: over £11 billion (note different order of number!) on the failed NHS centralised e-record system, 46 million on the garden bridge project, etc etc.

And we should mention the $500 billion (more telephone numbers!) given to the banks in the last 10 years with not much to show for this except another crash looming!

After Austerity cuts there are now many older people who are left by themselves all day, cold, lonely and hungry. Libraries and day centres are closed and the only entertainment they have is the TV.

Abolishing or watering down the concession would have a serious impact on these older people who rely on TV, particularly the many on low incomes, who are sick or disabled, isolated or alone.

In solidarity with these, I will not be paying my Licence fee (whatever the implications) when I turn 75 this May.

We can afford to pay for the heating of our little home as well as the TV license. We already donate the entire heating allowance to homeless charities both local and national. Were the TV license still to be in place when we reach 75 we’d do the same. The simplest solution to this problem would be to tax these benefits.

As it so happens I have a chronic health condition and am very grateful that I don’t have to pay for my prescriptions every month. The NHS should of course be a special case.

rebonk I know of a few people who were fined! The van was in the area of the school where I worked. The neighbours spilled the beans and the families were tje talk of the playground!

rebonk you are definitely wrong about nobody having been prosecuted as a result of a detector van because a member of my family was. £300 fine and that was over 10 years ago. 3 years ago my DH rented an apartment in England for 6 months. He didn't bother buying a TV so wasnt watching TV. He had several letters from TV licensing and on one occasion actually rang them and told them he had no TV as was only there for a short time. They said they accepted this and he wouldnt be bothered again. Two weeks later there was a knocking at his door at 10pm and when he opened the door a man from TV licensing walked past him to see if there was a TV in his apartment.. My DH was very angry but they guy just shrugged his shoulders and walked out again.

Labour will be in No.10 if tonight's result is anything to go by.

*Jaxie

*Let's come back to that if Labour get in number 10.
It won't be the bed of roses you think it will be.

I filled in the BBC questionnaire re the licence fee.
My preference was for those receiving pension credit to have the free licence added to their DWP 'account' along with the Winter Fuel payment and Warm Home Discount (if applicable)
Everything in one place and each provider is assured of the authenticity of the claim as the DWP know address, phone and NI numbers.
My second choice was for over 75s to pay 50%.

As long as you have no scruples, paying the TV licence is optional. NOBODY, has ever been convicted via a detector van and you are under absolutely no obligation to enter into any discussion with those that allege (usually wrongly) that they are employed by the BBC.

You have a choice, it is up to you to use it.

If you genuinely cannot afford it no..otherwise yes. American TV is awful parly because it has to bow to its big corporate sponsors. I would hate all TV to be like that.
BBC does produce sime quality stuff. It does however need to sort its impartial reporting out.
Though to be fair consumers on left & right accuse BBC of bias...maybe they are just reporting the facts which are just unpalatable for one group or another so they get accused of bias!!

I think there was a lot of grumbling when the free tv licence, the bus passes and winter fuel payment were introduced.

They seemed to be a 'sop' to pensioners rather than increasing the state pension to the level of that in other countries.

If people vote Conservative they should expect this sort of thing. This government doesn't give a damn about those in the lower levels of income.

I think that the free TV licence should be available to people over 75. As several people have pointed out, not everyone can afford to be without the ‘perks’ available to pensioners. I am not claiming poverty, far from it. But I do have a tight budget and I currently make good use of the WFA, free prescriptions, eye tests & occasionally my bus pass. If it is free by the time I’m 75, I will accept the free TV licence gratefully. I worked full time for 40+ years as a teacher but have more recently helped my grown up children with mortgage deposits. I feel I have paid my way all my life. I expect many others have done the same. And therefore we have earned these benefits.

I think that the BBC says it needs the licence fee because it funds specialist tv for minority groups such as Welsh language programmes.

However, should those who cannot afford the fee and who gain no benefit from these specialist programmes be forced to fund them?

Trouble is if the BBC continues to offer licences when their funding finishes they will have to make massive cuts to their (quality) productions which will have a knock on effect on their exports - which generate a big income us all........perhaps there could be a means testing/ pension credits type system

As I understand it, governments are reluctant to means-test benefits as administration costs cancel out any benefit by stopping benefit for some. I stand corrected if I’m wrong. A very famous rock musician (friend of a friend) who always received private prescriptions etc. took advantage of every benefit going once he knew he was eligible for them, free prescriptions being one.

Subscription services such as Netflix and Amazon do not have adverts. BBC could do the same . I’d be happy to pay a subscription. BBC has loads of “adverts” - for its own programmes .

Hm999. You do not need to means test if only those in receipt of Pension Credit are entitled to a free licence. The Pensions Agency will have a complete list of who they are. so no extra admin.

The problem with means testing these things is that the money 'saved' will be spend on the admin of deciding who can have it and who can't.

The BBC is funded by licence-payers, Marilii and unless you purchase a licence you are not supposed to watch any television programmes in your home.
Students in halls of residence have to each pay for a licence if they have a tv in their room.

At one time people could be imprisoned if caught watching tv without a licence! I think you can still be fined which, of course, further penalises those who cannot afford the licence in the first place.

For those who like to watch a programme without it being interrupted by adverts it seems ideal. However, the BBC seems to show plenty of its own adverts between programmes.
It costs £150.50 per annum.

Marilii Our main public broadcaster is a public service broadcaster (BBC) who cannot run adverts on its programmes to finance themselves as they have a requirement to show programmes that meet the diverse needs of all communities in the UK, in other words they must produce many programmes that are important to the community they serve but do not have the high viewer numbers that will attract advertisers

This service is therefor financed by the license that every household that owns any televisions has to buy as the service has to be freely available to everybody in the country who has a television.

At the moment if you were over 75 you no longer need to pay for the licence, no matter how large your income is. There are now plans to reduce this free availability and it is suggested that these licences are available only to those retired people who receive state income supplements because their income is so low.