Free television licences for over 75s

[Ladymargarethall]

Just interested to know what others think.
Apparently it was introduced when there was a big problem with pensioner poverty. I know some pensioners struggle, but should it be offered free to everyone just because they are a certain age?

Scrap it- less and less pensioners are of the ‘served in the war’ generation- many are now part of the baby boomers, don’t see why they should be exempt from paying. I do think though the whole charge itself should be scraped

Bus passes annoy me more than tv licenses. Quite a few of my older well paid colleagues come to work using them and they have considerably more disposable and total income than their younger workmates who have dependant children.

If it is scrapped then the BBC will cease to exist and we will all be condemned to even more 'SlebRealityShite than we get now!

Flawed as it is (and I do believe it is seriously flawed) it is still the balance, the thing that stops us from having only American style TV.

The government introduced the 75+ free license and it is the government that should do the deciding, any consultation etc. Effectively they have reduced the BBC funding by a sneaky route and you can bet they won't accept any cut in provision.

What we really need is a proper enquiry into how far the BBC has wandered from its charter and a determination to reshape it to fit the 21st century!

Link it to receipt of Attendance Allowance?

'Means testing' is a red rag phrase to some, so I'd like an automatic link to age/disability.

Is the winter fuel allowance linked to age,btw? Anyone know?

I do get a bit irritated by the benefits for the over 60s and I do believe they should be means tested. My parents are both 70. They have no mortgage. DD has only just reduced his hours to part time and still earns more than DH and I's combined income. DM receives a state pension (although not the full amount) despite not working for over 40 years. Both have free bus passes, free prescriptions, winter fuel allowance and everything else. They are both relatively fit and able bodied. Even my own mum admits she would have preferred all these monetary benefits when she actually needed them 30 odd years ago when their kids were young.

I think that, along with the winter fuel allowance, it should be linked to pension credit and therefore indirectly means tested. Prescription charges for working-age people are done this way, so I have no idea why they couldn't do this.

What I find offensive it the assumption that just because you're over 75, you're just wanting to sit and watch an electronic box. I know at least three over 75s who don't own a tv. They are still out and about leading active and interesting lives.

Might just be me though, I've never seen the point of a tv and have never owned one.

Maybe they're doing it because over 75's aren't au fait with downloading?

I agree that TV licences should be abolished.

Wtaf.

Aviatorshades it is age related but I think what age you receive it may depend on when your State Pension age is, so not an absolute figure. The amount you receive then depends on how old you are (over 80s currently get more) and who you are living with.

thanks mrsfezziwig,for clarifying.

My dad is fuming over the possibility of losing his free t.v. licence, at the same time as stressing over the huge inheritance bill he'll be leaving and making good use of his bus pass despite driving a luxury car. That can't be right.

I'm all for supporting poor pensioners but it male's no sense for today's "hard working families" to be paying affluent pensioners tv licences .

Strongly support linking them to Pension Credit. There are plenty of people with comfortable private pensions (like all my retired relatives), and higher incomes than their children and grandchildren, being given these free licences, although they'd barely notice the cost of paying in full.
But I also think they should be free with high rate PIP/DLA, as a greater proportion of these claimants will have difficulty accessing activities outside the home as compared with over 75s as a group.

Bus passes need to remain as so many people have to drive anywhere to get to shops etc these days. Many pensioners not entitled to anything else struggle and this is a nice perk which stops them being isolated, My Dad has one and also drives but his driving days are rapidly depleting and the bus pass would help him when the time comes. My Mum loves her one, she doesn’t drive and lives a long way from supermarkets. The bus service allows her to get out.

TV licence...tbh I’d absorb the cost and pay for my parents to have a TV licence if it was removed.

But quite honestly many elderly are vulnerable and this smacks to me of yet another perk being removed from a vulnerable group. Same old same old.

Rob from the vulnerable to ensure the rich Tory donating folk don’t suffer.

Bus passes only need to remain for those who can't afford to buy their own

Yes, some pensioners are vulnerable and need all the support we can manage. Many others have more money than they can spend

I think Pension Credit is ending for new claimants. DH retired in January with a full record of NI since he was 17 and he is on the New State Pension which is higher than the previous State Pension. I think this was to help get over the fact that people were not claiming Pension Credit even though they were entitled to it.

Re: They served in the war
My DM was born in 1926 (same as the Queen). When war broke out she was 13 and it ended when she was 19. She is now 92. So yes, the number of people who actually fought in the war is diminishing.

As a child of the 1980s, we got into the habit of assuming all elderly people fought in the war but it's not applicable really anymore. You'd have to be well into your 90s to have fought in the war.

And not all elderly people fought in the war anywhere. A large proportion of my male relatives worked in engineering and were exempt from war service.

Bus passes annoy me more than tv licenses. Quite a few of my older well paid colleagues come to work using them

I thought they could only be used off-peak?

I’m split on this as I think bus passes are really important to prevent pollution, prevent people driving who are to old to be driving and do occasionally kill, to reduce congestion on the roads and to give many females over 65 independence from their spouse who may hold the purse string and be the only driver.

Tv licence I don’t care, if you don’t want to pay don’t watch bbc, many other channels to watch and enjoy.

Abolish the license all together. Link the bus passes and fuel allowance to Pension Credit. My MIL is 82, fairly old, too young to have taken part in WWII. There are fewer and fewer still alive who fought in WWII because the min age would be about 97 by now.

Giant kitten you can’t use an OAP bus pass before 9am

Yes, not valid before 9.30 am.

Tv licence I don’t care, if you don’t want to pay don’t watch bbc, many other channels to watch and enjoy

Still have to pay it if you watch anything live, ivykaty - not just BBC