This shoddy decision to end free TV licences for most over-75s will haunt the BBC’s fat cat bosses

So the deed is done. But will the BBC pay a price for going ahead with its plan to end free TV licences for most over-75s after a two-month stay of execution because of the Covid-19 pandemic?

The Corporation’s panjandrums evidently think they can get away with it. 

They will reason that, although more than three million households will have to start paying the £157.50 annual licence fee from August 1, some 1.6million of the very poorest pensioners claiming Pension Credit won’t have to fork out.

But, of course, many of the three million households forced to cough up are far from rich. 

Compared with the BBC’s overpaid stars and lavishly remunerated senior executives, a lot of these elderly pensioners are poor. Paying the licence fee will hurt.

That is why Age UK, which inspired more than 630,000 people to sign a petition against the proposals when they were first announced last year, described the announcement as ‘a kick in the teeth for millions of over-75s who have had a torrid time during this crisis’.

Was there another way? You bet there was. Although it is forever boasting about trimming its sails, the Beeb is a vast, extravagant monster that has grown crazily over the past three decades, spawning new television channels and radio stations and a huge website. Its annual income is a massive £5billion.

Making three million pensioner households pay the licence fee should allow it to bank about a tenth of this amount. If Auntie had really cared about these people, this money could have been found through a serious process of economising.

Just cutting the salaries of hundreds of stars and senior managers earning more than £150,000 by 10 per cent would, by my rough calculations, yield £5million a year. It would be a symbolic step, which showed that despite appearances the ethos of public service broadcasting is still alive.

Much bigger sums could be found by closing down BBC4 (£44million) and Radio 6 Music (£12million). Shaving BBC1’s budget by just 10 per cent would yield £110million, and slimming down BBC2 by the same proportion nearly £40million. Auntie could reverse its idiotic decision to spend £100million on ‘diversity’ over the next three years.

In no time at all, an organisation which chose to put poorer pensioners before its immediate financial needs could save hundreds of millions of pounds if it really set its mind to it. But no such root-and-branch operation has taken place. Let the poor pensioners pay.

I accept that in 2015 the then chancellor, George Osborne, drove a hard bargain when he got the director-general, Tony Hall, to agree that the Corporation would take responsibility for the £745million annual cost of providing free TV licences for those aged 75 or over.

Lord Hall, who is just about to step down, caved in too easily. One of his predecessors, Mark Thompson, has claimed that he had begun writing a resignation letter when Osborne tried to impose similar costs on the BBC five years earlier.

The fact remains that the Beeb agreed to these terms, and is now acting in a ruthless and self-serving manner. If it did not know that withdrawing free licences will be painful for many pensioners, it wouldn’t have suspended the measure during the pandemic.

In March, Lord Hall agreed in front of a Commons committee that people in their 80s and 90s could be hauled through the courts for not paying their TV licences after the free concession is withdrawn. How will our public service broadcaster with its hundreds of ‘fat cat’ salaries look then?

BBC bosses assume they have won this battle. I believe that, on the contrary, they have exposed themselves to the charge of meanness and selfishness, and that this shoddy decision may come back to haunt them. 

BBC’s free TV license blow to pensioners: Over-75s will have to pay £157 fee from next month 

BY PAUL REVOIR MEDIA EDITOR FOR THE DAILY MAIL 

The BBC was yesterday accused of kicking pensioners in the teeth by axing free TV licences for millions of over-75s.

The Corporation announced it will bring in its controversial new scheme in three weeks’ time, on August 1.

More than three million households – those not claiming Pension Credit – will be hit with the £157.50 fee.

BBC chiefs had initially planned to charge them from last month but delayed the start due to the coronavirus pandemic. Yesterday it confirmed there would be no further postponement.

The cost of continuing to provide free licences to all over-75s could have reached £1billion a year with an ageing population.

The BBC’s chairman, Sir David Clementi, claimed the Corporation could not continue delaying the introduction ‘without impacting programmes and services’.

Age UK, which has led the fight against the plans, said it feared for the mental health of older people living on their own if they have to give up their TV set.

Director Caroline Abrahams said: ‘We’re bitterly disappointed by this decision on behalf of the millions of over-75s who have had a torrid time over the last few months and for whom this must feel like another kick in the teeth, during a terrible year.

‘Many older people on low incomes have told us that if they have to find £150-plus a year to pay for a licence then they will have to forego some other essential, or try to survive without TV at all.’

She criticised the ‘flawed design’ of the scheme saying two in five of all the pensioners on the lowest incomes do not get Pension Credit ‘even though they are entitled to it’. 

But she said the ‘principal responsibility’ for the situation lay with government after it ‘transferred’ the scheme to the BBC.

Tory MP Julian Knight, who is chairman of the digital, culture, media and sport committee, said: ‘At what is already a very difficult time, this will be a body blow to millions of British pensioners.

‘I had hoped that the previous delay announced would lead to the Government and BBC coming together in order to thrash out a fresh deal. However, that has clearly not happened.’ 

He said the ‘mess’ was the result of a ‘poor decision’ by outgoing director general Lord Hall and that ‘now Britain’s pensioners are having to pick up the cost’.

Boris Johnson’s spokesman said the PM disagreed with the move. He said: ‘This is the wrong decision. We recognise the value of free TV licences for over-75s and believe that they should be funded by the BBC.’ 

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: ‘I very much regret the decision that the BBC has taken. We gave the settlement to the BBC back in 2015. They said that it was a good settlement, and I regret that they couldn’t find efficiency savings in order to avoid having to impose the licence fee on the over-75s in the way that they have set out.’ 

Sir David Clementi admitted that while about 1.5million households could get free licences if on Pension Credit, only 450,000 of those eligible had applied. 

There had been concerns that if pensioners were forced to go out and copy documents needed to qualify for the scheme, it could put lives at risk with coronavirus still circulating. 

But the BBC said the implementation of the scheme will be ‘Covid-19 safe’ with no pensioners needing to leave their homes to claim for the free TV licence or to pay for one.

TV Licensing, which runs its collection activities, will write to those affected and give them ‘clear guidance’. 

Telephone contact centres have also been set up to assist. The Corporation claims without the new fee, it would have had to close BBC2, BBC4, the BBC News channel, Radio 5 Live, the BBC Scotland channel and a number of local radio stations.