Page 5 | Would you do this? (Ben Fogle's TV license donation)

ScrewBalls99 · 2019-06-12T17:23:17+00:00

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48607896 Would you do this? Donate towards over 75's free TV licenses?

BlindAssassin1 · 13/06/2019 09:09

The BBC is on the slide. I would say that once the over 75 group pass on the beeb's target audience is pretty much gone. They're pulling up the drawbridge now, preparing to shake up how we pay for and watch their (mostly crappy) shows.

Squeaky posh boy Fogle is essentially paying himself with this one.

Gooigi · 13/06/2019 09:15

So are Age UK going to start paying for TV licenses for every single over 75 in the country? Because it doesnt seem like the best use of their money.

StoneofDestiny · 13/06/2019 09:17

swanning off on cruises

God forbid people who have worked all their lives, paid taxes and saved get to enjoy their later years.

For many, while working and raising their families, holidays abroad were impossible. Now is their time.

Wish I'd be around to hear what the next generation has to say about some of the attitudes to old people coming out on here!

Dontsweatthelittlestuff · 13/06/2019 09:19

What is really going to happen if an 80 year old doesn’t by a tv licence?
They get prosecuted and fined. Don’t pay the fine.
Are the courts really going to put a bunch of 75 year olds in prison when they are already releasing real criminals early as there is insufficient prison places.

If I was this age then I just wouldn’t pay and take my chances. Even if I ended up in prison it wouldn’t really be a major problem for me in fact it could work to someone’s advantage as you would get health and dental care without the usual waits.

BarbaraofSevillle · 13/06/2019 09:25

You can go to prison for not paying i think

Excellent. They wouldn't have to worry about the heating costs .

The minimum income for a single pensioner is about £160 pw after housing costs as they either get HB or are quite likely to be mortgage free. £250 pw for a couple and people with this amount of money or less will still get their TV licence paid for.

Many have pensions on top that younger people can only dream about. They can pay for their own bloody TV licences.

Nanny0gg · 13/06/2019 09:25

Nice idea. But it would be anathema to most people of that generation to deliberately break the law.

Nanny0gg · 13/06/2019 09:27

Many have pensions on top that younger people can only dream about. They can pay for their own bloody TV licences.

I do. Because I paid for it. But then I also don't expect to get a free tv licence. That wouldn't be right. But I don't agree with the proposed cut off point

ohfucketyfuck · 13/06/2019 09:33

Hell no. Tv is not a priority. We can barely afford our bills and don't have a tv license as we don't watch regular TV! we pay £6 a month for Netflix and we have a smart tv (one my parents didn't use anymore) so watch things on YouTube

opinionatedfreak · 13/06/2019 09:39

No.

My personal experience of over 75s is that they can afford their own TV licenses far more readily than their children can.

I think means testing is a good idea - as is mesns testing winter fuel.

Alsohuman · 13/06/2019 09:41

TV is absolutely a priority for people who are confined to their home and wouldn’t know what Netflix was, let alone a smart TV. I’m angry about this because it could have been done differently and better.

It could have been allowed to wither on the vine by keeping free licenses for people already getting one but not issuing any more. The qualifying age could have been raised.

The point Ben Fogle is making is that the BBC overpays its “talent” and now it’s at the expense of pensioners.

TwinklyMummaLuvsHerBubba89 · 13/06/2019 09:50

All this scorn being poured on rich pensioners.

The very people who have worked just as hard as anyone commenting on this thread.

Disgusting.

Dontsweatthelittlestuff · 13/06/2019 09:54

My 84 year old mum lives with me so technically my household is entitled to claim for a free tv licence in her name witch would cover the whole house.
My mum has been with me 7 years now and I have never bothered to claim and just left the licence in my name which I pay by direct debit.

I don’t even watch tv. My youngest son uses Netflix and only my older boy and mum watch tv and cable but I still pay as I was bought up to pay my bills rather than look for freebies.
But if in 30 years time I am in my own, housebound like my mum is then I will stop paying and let them prosecute me if they wish.
If I live that long I will have very little money left by then as I plan to start giving away my assets to my sons after my mum dies.
I will keep enough for a small home for me and I will have my late husbands small pension and my state pension which at today’s rates will be just sky of £1000 pm to live on.
Let the government do what they will as by then those I care about will be gone, my sons sorted by what I have already been able to give them and I will just be quietly living out the last of my life.

Sewrainbow · 13/06/2019 09:59

Not for tv licences but if I could afford it for other stuff - yes

It's up to him what he chooses to donate to, it sounds good to say he donated his whole fee to X but really it's just a % of his earnings, like one of us saying I'll donate an equivalent of a days pay to charity or a couple of hundred pounds.

Nanny0gg · 13/06/2019 10:18

we pay £6 a month for Netflix and we have a smart tv (one my parents didn't use anymore) so watch things on YouTube

My late father-in-law would never have heard of Netflix or a smart TV. He'd had his TV for years.

He watched 4 channels and that was it.

Nanny0gg · 13/06/2019 10:20

My personal experience of over 75s is that they can afford their own TV licenses far more readily than their children can.

Oh well then. Anecdotal evidence proves the point.

Maybe you should get out more. Look outside your 'personal experience'

LenizarLyublyu · 13/06/2019 10:22

How to people get away with not paying the licence? I thought if you had a device that was able to stream live TV then you had to pay it? Can they check whether you actually watch the relevent channels?

AtillatheHun · 13/06/2019 10:25

I had always understood that the process of means testing for winter fuel allowance would cost more than the saving that would be achieved by not paying the allowance to wealthy pensioners. I'm not sure how it's cost effective now for tv licences?

whatwouldbigfatfannydo · 13/06/2019 10:34

He's made himself look like a total idiot to be honest. Tripping over himself to kiss the BBC's arse. Cringing for him and his cronies desperate to follow suit. The article I read pointed out that he only donated the salary of 1 programme - so hardly a true martyr...

He and his wife cone from money anyway. They can still afford a fancy house and private school fees.

The pensioners I know are much better off than most working age people (caveat being that I and 99% of people I associate with are not well off in the slightest).

No, I wouldn't do it and can't help myself rolling my eyes at anyone who does. No one has crawled out of the woodwork to challenge austerity caused by Universal Credit etc. So anyone being righteous now is just embarrassing tokenism.

MereDintofPandiculation · 13/06/2019 10:37

The minimum income for a single pensioner is about £160 pw after housing costs ... Many have pensions on top that younger people can only dream about. Except that if they do have a pension on top of that, they won't get pension credit, so the state pension will only be about £120. A minor quibble, but I think it's generally forgotten that the quoted state pension of around £160 only applies to those under about 67 - people who'd already reached pension age when it was brought in don't get it.

Although it sounds a lot of money, it isn't so much when people have to start paying other people to do minor DIY jobs that they'd previously have done themselves, pay more for heating as they're no longer mobile enough to keep them selves warm by physical activity, and so on. I agree that there's no need to give extra money to the well-off - but means testing on a small payment often costs more than it saves. I'd prefer to let it go for the sake of those for whom it makes a huge difference, and work instead for a less unequal distribution of wealth.

Japonicaflower2 · 13/06/2019 10:44

No unless I can be sure it goes to someone who truly needs it.
My father was ranting about this yesterday, 96 years old, retired at 50, big house and plenty of money. He definitely could easily pay for a tv license but sees it 'as his right...'!
It should be means-tested.

Gooigi · 13/06/2019 11:14

I thought if you had a device that was able to stream live TV then you had to pay it?
No, but if they came to your door they might lie and say it's the case.

Cwtches123 · 13/06/2019 11:22

No - I know lots of over 75s and all can comfortably afford to buy their own. My inlaws are moaning about it but spend £££ in the local pub each week - it's £3 a week, less than the price of a pint for FIL

It should only be free to those who are on a low income, the fuel allowance should be the same.

Liverbird77 · 13/06/2019 11:26

I don't agree it should be means tested. My mum has slogged away all her life and bloody earned every penny of her pension. Others chose to give up work. Why should they get it and she shouldn't? Just remember, these "well off" pensioners have paid loads of tax and national insurance as well.

BarbaraofSevillle · 13/06/2019 11:34

Just remember, these "well off" pensioners have paid loads of tax and national insurance as well

That may be the case, but it doesn't work like that. It's not a savings account. The tax and NI that those pensioners paid was spent at the time.

Current taxpayers are funding the current free TV licences, often for people with far more assets and/or disposable income than themselves.

The fact is that the current generation of pensioners are, on average, the wealthiest and most privelidged in history and if the country doesn't stop giving consessions to this group of people, it just increases the load on younger people, who are already likely to work longer and receive smaller pensions when they do retire, at the same time as paying off massive student loans and bigger mortgages.

Pinkmouse6 · 13/06/2019 11:36

No, my DGM is absolutely rolling in it. She bought her house outright decades ago and it’s now worth at least five times as much. She has four pensions (both hers and my Grandad’s who passed away) and one of those includes private healthcare. She doesn’t need to work at all but she still works part time to keep herself busy too. She does not need a free TV licence and would be the first to admit this. Many pensioners are in that position.

I’m all for a means tested free TV licence but not just a blanket one for all over 75’s. Had a bit of a row with DP over it last night, he thinks after working their whole adult lives they deserve something back. I say their pensions, lack of mortgage and often free uni education was enough.