Start Date:
20th November 2018
End Date:
12th February 2019
Start Time:
00.01
End Time:
2359
The BBC has launched a consultation to decide how licence fees for over-75s should be paid for.
They are currently financed by a government-funded scheme, which is due to end in 2020.
It is expected the cost of free licences to the over-75s will total £745m – a fifth of the BBC’s current budget by 2021/22.
The consultation period is running for 12 weeks from 20 November until 12 February.
You can read and respond to the consultation in English here or in Welsh here.
Four options were set out in a report, commissioned by the BBC, produced by Frontier Economics.
Proposals are:
- Scrap free licence fees for over-75s
- Replace with a 50% concession for all over-75 households
- Increase the age threshold for eligibility ie-
- Raise age threshold to 77 or
- Raise age threshold to 80
- Means-test eligibility for the concession ie
- Link free TV licences to over-75s who get pension credit or
- Link free TV licences to anyone receiving pension credit regardless of age
To read more, click this link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-46274054