Three Ways Over 75s Can Avoid Paying for a TV Licence

Nick Saving Money events 8 Comments

As you probably know by now, from 1st August 2020 people over 75 in the UK lost their automatic right to a free TV licence and now have to pay the same £157.50 a year as everyone else. This was originally due to happen in June 2020, but it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

For many old people, TV is their main (or only) source of company. Suddenly having to find this quite large sum out of (in many cases) a very limited income may cause them financial difficulties or downright hardship. Some may even have to choose between watching television and paying their heating bills.

Whether you blame the government or the BBC for this parlous situation – and in my view both are culpable – many over-75s will struggle with this, at a time when many are already suffering terrible stress and isolation due to the pandemic. So in this post I will be setting out three ways they may be able to get out of paying this ‘TV tax’.

I hope that this will be helpful if you are over 75 yourself, or if you have relatives, friends or neighbours in this age group.

I’ll start with the best method if you are eligible….

1. Claim Pension Credit

Pension credit is a state benefit for people above retirement age who are on a low income. It can be paid to single people or to couples. It is usually paid weekly, though you can also choose to have it paid fortnightly or monthly if you prefer. Anyone over 75 receiving pension credit is automatically eligible for a free TV licence.

Along with attendance allowance – which I discussed in this recent post – pension credit is one of the most under-claimed benefits. According to the Department for Work and Pensions, around 40 percent of eligible people, or two in five, fail to claim it. That’s an estimated 1.5 million eligible households in the UK who are missing out.

Pension credit actually comes in two parts – guarantee credit and savings credit. Guarantee credit boosts your weekly income to £167.25 if you’re single or £255.25 if you’re a couple (all figures correct as of March 2020). You may be eligible for guarantee credit if you have reached state pension age and your total income is less than these amounts (even if you own your own home). If you have under £10,000 in savings and investments this will not be taken into consideration. If you have over £10,000, it will be assumed that you earn £1 a week per £500 of savings and investments (equivalent to an interest rate of 10.4% – if only!). This will be added to your total income when working out your eligibility.

Savings credit is meant to be a reward for those who have saved for their retirement. It’s worth up to £13.73 a week for a single person or £15.35 for couples. To qualify, you must have a minimum income of £144.38 a week if you’re single, and £229.67 a week if you’re in a couple. For every £1 by which your income exceeds this amount, you get 60p of savings credit – up to the £13.73/£15.35 maximum. If your income is less than the £144.38/£229.67 savings credit threshold, you won’t qualify. Savings Credit is only available to people who reached state pension age before 6 April 2016. Couples where only one partner reached state pension age before 6 April 2016 can also retain savings credit if the older partner had reached 65 and qualified for savings credit before that date AND they have remained continuously entitled to it ever since. Whether you receive guarantee credit or savings credit or both, that will qualify you for a free TV licence.

It’s worth adding that if you pay mortgage interest or have other housing costs, have caring responsibilities, are responsible for a child, or are severely disabled, you may be entitled to more pension credit. If you receive attendance allowance or carers credit, for example, this may boost the amount you’re entitled to. The rules surrounding all this are complicated, but the government has provided a free online calculator you can use to work out whether you qualify and how much you might get. This is for guidance only, however. You can’t apply via the calculator and there is no guarantee that you will receive the amount it shows you.

To actually apply you will need to phone the DWP’s Pension Credit helpline on 0800 991234. You will need your National Insurance number, information about your income, savings and investments and your bank account details. The person you speak to will then take you through the application process. This is a subject I discussed in more detail in this blog post, as I recently helped an older friend to do this successfully.

As well as the money – which can amount to thousands of pounds a year – if you receive pension credit you will be entitled to a range of additional benefits. A free TV licence if you are over 75 is just one of them. You may also get:

• reduced council tax (or free if you are awarded guarantee credit)
• free NHS dental treatment
• help towards the cost of glasses
• help with the cost of travel to hospital
• cold weather payments
• automatic entitlement to the Warm Home Discount
• help with rent
• free home insulation and boiler grants
• extra money if you’re a carer

Even if you only receive a small amount of pension credit, you will be eligible for all of the above. So it really is well worth applying if there is any chance you may qualify. As mentioned above, you can check first using the free online calculator here and then apply by phoning the DWP’s Pension Credit helpline on 0800 991234.

2. Cancel Your TV Licence

If you don’t qualify for pension credit and the free licence that comes with it, you may wish to opt out of paying for a TV licence altogether.

There is no legal requirement to possess a TV licence just because you own a TV.  But if you don’t have a licence it’s against the law to watch (or record) most live broadcasts. This also applies to watching on other types of device such as tablets and smartphones. It also applies if you watch via a cable service or satellite TV.

Obviously you aren’t allowed to watch live TV on any of the BBC’s channels, neither can you watch catch-up TV on the BBC iPlayer. In addition, you are not allowed to watch ANY live TV on other channels, even those broadcast from overseas. And you aren’t allowed to record live broadcasts by any TV service even if you don’t watch them till later.

So what ARE you allowed to watch without a licence? You can still watch catch-up TV on other (non-BBC) channels such as ITV Player and Demand 5. You can also watch subscription services such as Amazon Prime TV and Netflix.

You are also allowed to listen to BBC radio and all other radio stations, as radio is not covered by the TV licence.

If you decide to cancel your TV licence, you can do so by going to this page of the TV Licensing website and clicking where it says ‘Tell us you don’t need a licence’. You should also cancel any direct debit you may have set up with your bank.

Note that if you are found ‘cheating’ and watching TV that requires a licence, you could be fined up to £1,000 and even face imprisonment if you fail to pay. So it is best not to cancel your TV licence unless you are sure you aren’t going to need it in future.

3. Get a Black and White TV Licence

Okay, I am cheating slightly here. You do still have to pay for a black-and-white licence, but the annual cost is just £53, so it’s over £100 cheaper.

Black-and-white TVs are available from specialist suppliers and also sold on the online auction site eBay. If you don’t mind returning to monochrome you can save over £100 a year this way. Again, you can cancel your colour licence and apply for a black-and-white licence via the TV Licensing website.

Finally, I would comment that the whole situation regarding TV licensing is currently under review. In particular, the over-75s licence debacle has highlighted the inherent unfairness of a system where people are required to pay for a TV licence even if they only ever watch non-BBC channels. It is therefore possible that in future the BBC may be required to switch to a subscription model like Netflix, meaning that people won’t have to pay a licence fee at all. In my personal opinion this would be a better, fairer system. It would also force the BBC to up its game by producing more shows the paying public really want to see.

I hope you have found this post interesting. As ever, if you have any comments or questions, please do leave them below.