Would you be willing to pay more for your TV licence to ensure it stays free for over 75s?

[ChaosTrulyReigns]

I blinking would.

I know it's be a administrative impossiblity to achieve, but volunteering to pay an extra £5/£10 per year? Could it work?

No, not for a minute.

Like the fuel allowance, these days it is a patronising generalisation for a generation who are very starkly split between well-off and badly-off.

Ah i see Fa Foutis................so a race to the bottom then.

Ransom post but I definitely disagree that prescriptions shouldn't be free. A service user a colleague works with is chaotic. He has been sanctioned by UC for missing an appointment so has no money, and as isn't recieving money he does not get free prescriptions. He cannot afford food. He cannot afford bus fare to appointments. For some people the very real reality is that they absolutely cannot afford paracetamol or ibuprofen. He's in pain with his leg. And he's an ex drug addict who doesn't use now so his money doesn't go on that. Yet he's in agony every day because he cannot afford painkillers. It is disgusting. Not everyone has a spare 70p you know!

No ,not for the left wing shite the Brussels Broadcasting Corporation pumps out.

No most pensioners are very well off and don't need financial help. If they get pension credit then yes. Same arguments for the winter fuel payment

Nope.

Sorry but I think some of the over 75’s should pay for my Netflix subscription.

Cheaper higher education to my £9K, better pension earlier age, better welfare allowances, able to afford housing whilst my gen priced out of the market, more appreciation on property. Sitting on a gold mine but getting free bus passes, free prescriptions etc. Echo pp’s idea and think these benefits should be means tested across the board. Equal distribution of benefits amongst the country’s poorest.

@Madein1995 Unless his claim has been closed or he has Earnings in his most recent Assessment Period of more than £435 as a single person (or £935 if there are children or limited capability for work) then his prescription would remain free. Don't spread bullshit. Sanctions, especially on UC, do not stop fringe and passported benefits.

Ransom post but I definitely disagree that prescriptions shouldn't be free

Just to add to this, I've come across some research that indicates that one of the benefits of free prescriptions in Scotland isn't just the savings in administration but in the cost to more expensive health services. If you can't afford to pay for a prescription then chances are you might end up at A&E and possibly need admitted.

It can be very short sighted to not consider the implications for making people pay for a service that in the long run could work out cheaper if it's free.

Nope I would not pay more.

No.

Pensioners are not all poor, means testing this is a perfectly fair thing to do, there are very many more worse off who are still required to pay it if they wish to watch live tv and iplayer.

My parents are in their early 70's, very comfortably off (as are all
The other over 70's I personally know) and have been saying for years it should be means tested.

Pensioners have a lot of sway as they are more likely to vote so politicians tend not to target them for cuts especially. This is particularly true for the tory party who basically buy their votes.

Wealthy pensioners get a lot of additional money from the govt when they don't even need it it's ridiculous!

"It doesn't make sense to me that wealthy over 75s get it free and poor under 75s don't." Me neither

"The crises in schools, social care and the NHS is way more pressing imho" absolutely

Helena we usually agree but I'm sorry no, regarding paying people who work in tv less too - there are a very few who get paid a lot but most aren't, I agree there shouldn't be excessive salaries (there shouldn't be in any job) but the majority are on fairly normal levels of pay and quite a few are on pretty low or even no pay.

Fearing poverty when not actually being poor is difficult but irrelevant it's not a rational reason for giving people something they don't actually need, especially when others are in need. My parents, their siblings and others I know of this age group also grew up poor but they're not poor now and they understand that.

"Let them keep the free bus passes and get them off the road

That should work in theory but I don't think it does in reality. Free bus passes don't stop pensioners who should not be driving going out in their cars." Agreed, certainly not here (rural, limited & unreliable public transport provision)

"I do think that the TV licensing shouldn't be allowed to carry on with their intimidation tactics though. Nobody else is allowed to lie and threaten so blatantly." Totally agree with this too. The majority of tv watchers now, whatever they're watching on, could be set up that you have to put your licence number in before you could access.

"Not least because I don't really understand why I have to pay it seeing as I don't watch bloody BBC." It doesn't only fund the BBC, it funds public interest programming on all channels, radio and online services.

It's hardly ageism against older people when they would still (those on pension credits) be RECEIVING a benefit that nobody else gets. If anything it's ageism against younger people that they have to pay the tv license if they want to watch live tv/iplayer regardless of income!

"Pensioners are the ones costing the country money." Exactly!

Helena we usually agree but I'm sorry no, regarding paying people who work in tv less too - there are a very few who get paid a lot but most aren't, I agree there shouldn't be excessive salaries (there shouldn't be in any job) but the majority are on fairly normal levels of pay and quite a few are on pretty low or even no pay.

Very much this my friend and her husband work in TV, she has to work very long hours for what is probably minimum wage if that, her husband has been in some amazing programmes as an actor, but then he has months of not working.

Don't assume everyone in TV gets paid millions because they don't its an unforgiven industry

Helena I lost my child benefit because we don't need it. And quite rightly so. It's somewhat galling though when other benefits aren't assessed on similar merit and simply doled out by virtue of age. Should we all be claiming age discrimination? Some older people gee up in poverty (as do many younger people). It doesn't mean their bills should be paid for them because the psychological effects of that mean they don't want to spend anything. If more elderly people were willing to spend what 'they've saved all their lives for ' and stopped being reluctant to pay for help that would keep them safe at home for example, they wouldn't be in and out of A&E like a revolving door.

No. My parents are in their 70s and get more from their pensions than I get working full time, plus bus pass, big discounts etc.

I don't think they need a free tv licence too.

Hell no.

No issue with it being free to those below an earnings or wealth threshold.

Benefits for parents were reformed so those above a threshold don’t get child benefit and above a higher threshold don’t get help towards childcare etc. I’m affected by this and have no issue with it however I have a major issue with the fact that pensioner benefits were not similarly reformed. BBC licence change is a step in the right direction.

I’m certainly not claiming btw that all pensioners are wealthy. Just those that have the means to pay do not need free TV.

Helena another straw man argument with your husbands prescriptions. My sister is on lifetime medication (otherwise she'll die quite quickly). She has a pre payment certificate for about £10 per month. Your husband could have got one of these if he didn't get free prescriptions.

Someone who is 40p over the pension credit threshold is unlucky. I'd look at reducing my income in that case, perhaps with some charity giving. However 40p over is 40p over the limit. Odds are they can use it towards the £3 per week TV licence.

Free prescriptions as a universal benefit is not sustainable. I think the whole system needs totally over hauling and looked at on a medication basis rather than age.

I think it should be free over a certain age simply because it's more cost-effective not to have to assess eligibility and ensures that the most vulnerable are provided for.

However I would say the same about free prescriptions, child benefit, and free school meals, so would like an acknowledgement from those suddenly changing their stance from 'oh, those really needing it will be reliably served by the benefits system' that they are being hypocritical.

Well, it's likely to be a driver for greater uptake of pension credit.

And that is a good thing (though of course more expensive for the taxpayer)

I hope they will have a light touch for prosecuting the elderly though - a 90 year old who hasn't paid for 15 years might easily make mistakes.

I think they shouid have raised the threshold for universal eligibility, rather than it vanishing completely, so it became 'on pension credit or over 85'

No because I'm not buying the line that all pensioners are skint. The ones I know aren't.

And anyway, it is remaining free for the poorest.

MyDC, so you know my parents aren't struggling do you? Obviously all pensioners must be well off.

Maybe they are not struggling as much as they have in the past but they are certainly not well off. Just the fact they did struggle for so many years and go without so much should mean they are entitled to free tv licence. It's £12 a month for goodness sake not £120 a month.

My parents rarely go outside the house so tv is their entertainment. I will pay their licence for them but it's disgusting that it is being stopped unless you are on pension credit.

The stereotype of the rich pensioner is far more pervasive than that of how miserable relative poverty post-retirement.

Most pensioners are not well off.

But paying the licence fee won't make a critical difference. But it might lead those eligible, who have not claimed pensions credit to do so.

mydog
I'm not sure that's fair , nobody is suggesting all pensioners are rich but generally they aren't that badly off. These scheme was brought it by government then passed to the BBC when it got to expensive. Is it right they spend a fifth of the budget on this ? Is it right families who are on benefits are subsiding those who aren't on benefits. The over 70s are the biggest users of the BBC is it right others who hardly watch it pay the full fee while they pay nothing ?

I really would like to know where all these rich pensioners are. 3 to 4 holidays a year!!!! Come off it my parents haven't had a holiday for over 10 years.

I am sure there are some well off pensioners just as there are well off younger people but many struggle.

To posters moaning about having to pay the fee, if you don't honestly watch BBC then you don't have to pay it. If you do watch then £12 a month is not a lot is it? People pay that month to buy shit coffee from Starbucks