Over 75 : That TV Licence May NOT Be Free Anymore !

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TV Licences : Up to 3.7 million over-75s to pay licence fee.


Three million households will lose right to free licence next June >

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Up to 3.7 million pensioners who previously received a free TV licence will now have to pay for it.

The BBC will scrap blanket free licences for over-75s, but households with one person who receives Pension Credit will still be eligible.

The BBC said > “fairness” > was at the heart of the ruling, which comes into force in June 2020.

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According to the BBC, around 900,000 households are claiming Pension Credit, which is is a non-taxable weekly top up for pensioners based on a person’s income.

The number of households which could be eligible to apply for Pension Credit could number 1.5 million by 2020.

The BBC Board said it was the “fairest option to help the poorest pensioners”. >



A B52 BOMBER IN THE OINTMENT ?

HOW MANY PENSIONERS OUT THERE ARE ELIGIBLE FOR PENSION CREDIT BUT DON’T CLAIM IT ???

BEST ASK AGE UK TO CONFIRM MY SUSPICIONS.

PART OF THAT £ 13 BILLION THAT GOES UNCLAIMED EVERY YEAR ?

" I’ve never asked for charity , nor do I want it even at my time of life ! "
( So common to hear that from the present generation … manor after manor … after manor ? )


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Yep … now confirmed :

**_However, up to 1.3 million families who are entitled to receive pension credit do not claim the benefit, according to official government figures – suggesting many poor households will be hit hard by the change.

Charities including Age UK have said some elderly viewers will be pushed into relative poverty by the decision, with concerns over whether older viewers will be able – or willing – to prove they are receiving benefits. It is also likely to result in the criminal prosecution of elderly Britons who do not or are not able to pay.

“It’s a massive hardship for millions of people,” said Claire O’Brien of Enders Analysis. “The really vulnerable won’t apply for this benefit – the disabled and lone females do not apply for benefits. And that will be true for this as well.”_**

**_Jan Shortt, general secretary of the National Pensioners Convention, Britain’s biggest pensioner organisation, said: 'In the 21st century, the BBC’s suggestion that means-testing is somehow seen as the fairest way of doing things is absolute nonsense.

'All the evidence shows that Pension Credit is massively under-claimed, which means that in the future the very poorest pensioners will now miss out on their TV licence as well.

'There is no doubt that the BBC has done the government’s dirty work for it._**

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While I agree it will affect some at the poorer end of the spectrum, I am pleased that it will be removed from the wealthy, who also happen to be pensioners. You know, those who are playing golf at £100 or more a round, or who have holiday properties, investments and probably even trust funds yet who very promptly apply for their free licences

Remind me is winter fuel payment still not means tested? Our pensioner but affluent neighbours used to go and blow it all on one good meal out, raising a glass of something decent to the government.

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Winter fuel payment ?

NOT means tested and … I couldn’t agree more … should be means tested.

( I get it … could live without it but … a sole male on my income living in London ??? )

Problem is the sheer number of pensioners NOT claiming the benefits they are entitled to !

Now , for some of the poorest out there , another bill to add to those others … which are not means tested.

AGE UK have worked wonders trying to redress the problem.

Everything now being apply online does NOT help them one bit !

( Ever watched and listened to an elderly person experiencing a call centre for the first time … " All I heard was numbers ,
and a voice , which didn’t reply when I ask her a question ! " … my own mother … circa 1998 ? )
The real solution may well be a variation of that old Crusader war cry :

" Pay 'Em all a decent pension , let the TaxMan sort out those who now have too much ! "

Or , horror of horrors , introduce means testing to the state pension itself.

Heresy ?

With the percentage of elderly citizens increasing , and the number of taxpayers needed to fund the state pension …
any other alternative in 10 / 20 / 30 years time ?

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**Seeds of BBC licence fee decision deftly planted by George Osborne.

Deal struck with BBC in 2015 was a win-win-win for Tory government.**


Enough said ?

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Yep … wasn’t long before this one reached the Daily Chuckle !

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**" Everyone should cancel their direct debits " : Furious pensioners call on licence fee payers to boycott BBC’s " Utterly disgusting " decision to scrap free TV licences for 3.7million over-75s.

_The move to means test licence fees for over 75s sparked fury from pensioners.

Hashtags like ‘#letsrethinkthis’ on Twitter where move was branded " A disgrace. "

Piers Morgan pointed out many D-Day veterans would now have to pay charge._** >


Furious pensioners call on licence fee payers to boycott BBC | Daily Mail Online

COMMENTS SECTION AT THE BOTTOM … FASTEN YER SEAT BELTS !!!

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Gotta love pensioners. Complain they have to pay a licence that the vast amount of others have to pay. It’s not the BBC’s job to decide if you can afford it or not. The same as they don’t decide who get UC or not. Christ you’re a bunch of spongers complaining the BBC is left wing. You’re the commies wanting freebies of the backs of others. They’re the capitalists! But capitalists I’m happy to pay for as they do an outstanding job. Famously exporting programmes that is the envy of most nations. >

… AND , THAT’S JUST A SAMPLE !

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Yep … the feeding frenzy at the Daily Chuckle continues … there’s blood in the water !

Question Time tonight … no odds on one of the questions ???


Dozens of furious TV viewers REFUSE to pay their licences in protest at BBC’s decision to start charging 3.7million pensioners over 75

**_People are cancelling their TV licence payment after BBC announced the move.

WWII veteran Victor Gregg yesterday slammed the Corporation for decision.

Ben Fogle said he would donate his salary for a show to fund some licences._**

**BBC’s £2billion pension hypocrisy exposed as former bosses get six-figure handouts in retirement while pensioners are to have their free licence taken away.

_The BBC plans to strip 3.7m households of their free TV licence from June 2019.

Cash from over-75s forced to buy their licences will help top up BBC pensions.

Broadcaster plans to spend £2bn until 2028 to plug a hole in its pension pot.

Some former bosses are handed six-figure handouts in their retirement schemes._**

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Why does the BBC pay such high salaries?
OK, if a few left because they were not getting obscene salaries any more, so what?
It would be a better, and quieter channel without them.

Some being paid over a million a year, whilst other folk use food banks.
No wonder Corbyn may well get in soon.

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Perhaps , Albert . the difference between £ 1 MILLION a year and a foodbank all rests on whether one can
make a boring 0-0 draw sound interesting ?