BBC over-75s free TV licence transition period to end in July

The BBC will end its licence fee grace period for over-75s on 31 July, with 260,000 pensioners still yet to pay.

The right to a free TV licence for that age group ended last August for all except those in receipt of the pension credit benefit.

But in February, the BBC announced a transition period due to the pandemic.

The BBC said that, of the 3.9 million people over 75 who needed to make new TV licence arrangements, 3.6 million had now done so.

The corporation said the proportion of over-75s who have now made arrangements for a TV licence was in line with the broader UK population.

The BBC said it would write to the remaining 260,000 people with information about the next steps and where they can get advice and support.

The corporation said it would also offer "customer care visits for those who require further assistance" after the July deadline.

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Silver Voices, which has campaigned against the end of free TV licences, said "a significant hard core remains of over-75s who are refusing or unable to pay".

The organisation's director Dennis Reed said: "Is the BBC going to fine and potentially take to court hundreds of thousands of senior citizens who are standing out against the scrapping of this welfare benefit?

"We have massive political and media support for a rethink on this issue and the government now needs to intervene urgently to force a solution."

'Orwellian language'

Former cricketer Lord Botham, who has been among the loudest voices against the change, said many people had paid "extremely reluctantly" and would "sit on their chequebooks" in the future.

"The BBC is now threatening to send round the boys for what it calls 'customer care visits'," he said. "The public can see through this Orwellian language and will never stomach the BBC intimidating the elderly."

Responsibility for TV licences for the over-75s was passed from the government to the BBC as part of the broadcaster's last royal charter.

The BBC said continuing to fund free licences for all older viewers would have forced it into "unprecedented closures" of services. But in 2019, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the BBC should "cough up" and cover the cost.

In January, the government decided not to move ahead with plans to decriminalise non-payment of the TV licence fee but said it would "remain under active consideration".

The following month, the BBC said no enforcement action had been taken against anyone who previously held a free over-75s TV licence.