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

[ScrewBalls99]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48607896

Would you do this?

Donate towards over 75's free TV licenses?

Not really getting the point re central heating. Most of us growing up in the 60s and 70s didn’t have it. Hardly a hardship. The fact is all the pensioners I know now have houses heated to Barbados temps whilst it’s the younger generations who have to turn the thermostat down.

Re being carers, younger generations are working full time x 2 just to keep a roof over their heads. I’d gladly care for my parents but I’d expect others in the family to finance my move,loss of income and damage to my pension. It takes 2 to fund a mortgage and the state won’t be giving me much of a pension in 20 years time or a tv licence or heating payment.

Ben Fogle really has no idea of the realities re raising families in today’s Britain.

Also the Gov has kindly raised my pension age so I’ll be working for longer and will have less opportunities to be a carer.

It feels like the generations are living in parallel universes. Pensioners expect and get everything running as if we’re not struggling financially as a country. Younger generations take all the hits. Compared to all the hits we’ve had means testing tv licenses is nothing.

The government has kindly raised all our pension ages. It has also taken away thousands of people’s disability benefits. Austerity has caused immeasurable hardship. None of that makes this decision the right one.

Do you think taking away these licenses will make everyone else’s cheaper? Will younger people benefit in any way from this decision?

Do you think taking away these licenses will make everyone else’s cheaper? Will younger people benefit in any way from this decision?

As it is the BBC that would be funding it then, yes, to maintain the same level of service, all other licence payers would be funding it (however rich or poor), so unless the BBC see it as a funding bonanza, younger people will benefit.

So not making everyone else’s licences cheaper then. Which was the point I made.

It would make it cheaper as they’d have to raise it for everybody else.

That sentence makes no sense at all.

I suspect you know full well what I meant but I’ll rephrase it if you so wish.

They will have to raise it for everybody else to keep the same services. This will stop the need for that.

Perhaps they could keep the same services and pay the “talent” a little less. Just a thought.

If they paid the talent a little less then some of that talent would probably not work for the BBC.

And 'paying some of the talent a little less' probably won't raise nearly as much money. The reports about this story say that 3.7 million pensioners will need to pay the TV licence, which is equivalent to over half a billion pounds.

The highest paid people at the BBC generally earn around half a million pounds a year. That would mean that they would need to reduce the salaries of over 1000 people earning this amount to ZERO to save the same amount of people.

And I highly doubt that the BBC pays over 1000 people half a million pounds a year and all those people will be willing to work for free so free TV licences for pensioners who can afford to pay can continue.

...save the same amount of money.

I wouldn't, but I can't afford to subsidise a random old person I didn't know.
Although if any old person of my acquaintance asked me to help them out with paying it, I absolutely would. But I'm not doing it as a token gesture.

@helenadove

I meant mainstream figures. The kind who jump on the bandwagon of social causes but stop short using their influence for things other than serving themselves.

I, Daniel Blake is the most impacting and honest depiction of the system I've ever seen and it's the first thing I recommend when people have the privelege of having avoided the system.

I have nothing but respect for the people speaking up, but their voices are lost in the propaganda touted by the DWP, Jobcentres and the devil incarnate herself Esther McVey.

We are in agreement but also, thanks for the heads up about Samuel West. I will keep an eye out for him.

@MummyParanoia101 I said NO to donating money to the Ben Fogle fund for the under 75's, Ben Fogle is donating his salary to start the fund big deal he can afford it or he wouldnt be doing it!! I'm sorry for your mothers situation sound's like she made bad choices the government nor the BBC are not responsible for that
I agree with another poster if she has a state pension and private pension she must be receiving more than £400 pm, there are a lot of needy people out there, homelessness, families on low incomes having to use food banks the same for single parent's, pensioner's with a good income should pay for a tv licence, poorer ones don't pay. maybe you can buy your mum a tv licence as a combine birthday and christmas present, she really shouldnt be paying if all she has us £400 pm

Mummy It sounds like your DM is a victim of bad luck and poor choices

I know this wasnt aimed at me but if "poor choices" was said to a single parent on here there would be outrage,

You cant rewrite history. It simply doessnt fly. e.g. Many women paid a half stamp back in the day because they were told that that was all they were needed to do. You also see this rewriting of history with people in this age group who have COPD through smoking when they grew up seeing a doctor advertise cigarettes on TV.

And speaking of this age group i dont know why everyone keeps calling them baby boomers. Only the very VERY youngest in this group are. Most of them are The Silent Generation.

And it seems that some would like it if they stayed silent.

YY @whatwouldbigfatfannydo totally agree.

@Arct1cTern My DH is a disabled pensioner He was born in 1950 Im his full time carer

I find it interesting that on the day of his 65th birthday he went from being a disabled person to an entitled knob.

i must say though he seems the same person i met 27 years ago. Apart from the COPD the iscehemic heart disease. He already had the arthritis.

Oh and hes not a Tory voter. He advocated for workers rights in every place he worked in until he had a bad accident at work in 1990. (this was before we met) he had a heart attack in 2006 which brought on his breathing problems.

I didnt realize that empathy for disabled people has a shelf life which expires when they hit their mid sixties.

People in my position with a partner about to turn 65 will now no longer be able to claim PC due to a change. Now its UC

This will affect the NHS because many carer partners will have to down tools. The ones who are not counted as carers who dont qualify for Carers Allowance because their partner doesnt get the right level of PIP which we all know is extremely hard to get yet when ive posted about this before its all "well they should reapply for the right level then" no ackowledgement on MN that its hard to get the right level of PIP There is no acknowledgement of that on here unless you are under 65,

There are a lot of unoffocial carers out there who wont be able to do it anymore Dont moan when you or your relative cant get a bed when a disabled pensioner is in it because their carer partner has had to get a job or meet conditionalies.

@happyhillock, do you genuinely think £400 a month would be a realistic amount to live on? Seriously? Bills and council tax would take about half of that, leaving £200 a month for food, clothes, everything else, now including about £12 a month for a TV licence. If I knew anyone in that situation l’d pay for their licence for them.

oh and as for poor choices. In the 1970s my DH and his co workers were told to pay into a workplace pension by their then employer.................if they wanted to keep their jobs That pension is now 30 something pounds a week payout.

Yep A real choice.

FGS Helena, it's not all about you. The poor choices comment was about the claim that a widow who had always worked full time and part time on top was having to pay a TV licence out of a £400 monthly income as she was apparently just above the pension credit threshold, even though the state pension is nearly £600 pm for a woman that age, plus whatever her private pension is on top.

Also that she was having to living in a 'tiny tiny bungalow' having lost money on equity release, ie she'd already spent part of her retirement savings, and was now expecting to be bailed out.

I know its not alll about me I was using DH as an example There are many just like him.

I will be very interested to see how todays workplace pensions pay out in 30 to 40 years time.

Someone upthread mentioned how some are having to cope with huge mortgages. Surely thats a choice Due to the fetishisation of home ownership.

BBC's response to 'just pay the stars less'

“Losing some of your favourite stars”. Of course it would because the broadcasting world would be queueing up to pay someone like Claudia Winkelman £400k. That’s more than 2,000 free licences, I know which I’d rather have.

I don’t think you can deny that some presenters would jump ship if you imposed that salary cap: there have already been a few examples over recent years. It’s not about whether you personally value CW, or Graham Norton, or John sodding Humphrys, it’s about whether they’re valued by a sizeable chunk of the audience. Personally I’d happily save thirty million a year by ditching Eastenders, but losing Claudia from Strictly would ruin my autumn. I’m sure you could find other people who’d say the same about every other saving you could suggest. People vary.

Of course they should keep a lid on salaries, probably more than they have in the past, but they’re speaking the literal truth when they say that if they tightened down a lot they would lose some people, including some people who would be missed, and it wouldn’t go very far towards 250 million, let alone 750. That balancing act is what makes the job tricky.