A petition calling for all pensioners to automatically receive a free TV licence has surpassed 20,000 signatures, forcing a mandatory government response
A campaign pushing for all pensioners to automatically receive free TV licences has taken a significant step forward. The government will be required to issue an official response after backing for the petition on the Parliament website surged past a crucial milestone.
Nearly 20,000 people have now put their name to the call, which can be read here, and once a petition reaches 10,000 signatures, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is obliged to respond.
This year the standard UK TV Licence climbed to £180 per year. A black-and-white only licence costs £60.50. To qualify for a free TV licence as a pensioner in the UK, the individual or their partner at the same address must be aged 75 or over and either must be in receipt of Pension Credit.
Universal free TV licences for 3.7m pensioners aged 75 and over were officially scrapped on July 31, 2020. At the time the BBC claimed that funding free TV licences for all over-75s would have led to ‘unprecedented closures’.
The petition states: “We want the Government to fund free TV licences for existing pensioners and those who reach the official retirement age. When people reach retirement age, we think they should receive a state-financed free TV licence.”, reports the Express.
“Many pensioners live on the breadline with only the TV for company. With the cost of food soaring and utility bills ever higher, we feel there is a desperate need to provide all pensioners with at least this concession.
“We feel it is a double outrage that those who have given their all to this country in taxes and raising children have to pay a TV licence fee and are only exempt if they receive means-tested Pension Credit. Meanwhile, some media figures draw huge salaries.”
A government review of the BBC’s Royal Charter is currently under way, specifically scrutinising its funding model. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has already branded the licence fee “unenforceable” and “insufficient”.
The BBC has indicated that it is “willing to consider radical options for future funding”. Last month the broadcaster’s new director-general stated the corporation will need to make “some difficult choices about its size and shape” going forward.
Former Google chief Matt Brittin also disclosed that the BBC has started work on modifications to its output, including programmes and services, in response to shifting consumer habits.
Mr Brittin assumes the position during a challenging period for the broadcaster as it seeks to axe 2,000 posts in an effort to cut costs by 10% over the coming three years.
Mr Brittin, 57, said the BBC must “serve its content into the digital environment”, adding: “We’ve got to make some choices about how to do that. Can we do it more efficiently?”
He added: “I think people trust journalists, individuals like yourselves and others at the BBC, to be there and explain the complicated world to them.
“We’ve got to find the right way to do that to take the values that the BBC has always had and reinterpret them for the modern world.
“How do we reinvent this institution to serve in today’s moment?”
To view and sign up to the petition click here.
