Half a million over-75s with dementia will have to pay for TV licences – study
This is bad news in rural England, where we have both a higher proportion of old people than the national average and where social isolation often contributes to loneliness. This story tells us:
More than half a million older people with dementia could be forced to pay for their TV licences from next year, according to research commissioned by Labour, findings the party said were “a national scandal”.
Tom Watson, the shadow culture secretary, who has pushed for the government to maintain funding for free TV licences for those aged 75 or over, said the process of applying for a licence could be particularly difficult for those with dementia.
The Alzheimer’s Society called for more work to communicate the changes, saying television could be “a lifeline” for isolated older people.
The free licences were introduced by Labour in 1999, with the cost funded by government. In 2015, the Conservatives said they would phase this out by 2020, and that the BBC should take on the financial burden of £745m a year.
But the corporation argued this sum, a fifth of its annual budget, would require wholesale channel closures to reduce costs. Instead, from next June, it will make all those aged 75 or over pay the £154.50 annual fee, apart from those who can show they claim the means-tested pension credit.
Research commissioned by Labour from the House of Commons library estimated that more than 552,000 older people with dementia could thus lose their free TV licences, including more than 140,000 aged 90 or over.
The total of those living with dementia affected by the change was reached by combining official population estimates with the prevalence of dementia by age group, reaching a total of 682,000. Of these, 19% on average received pension credit and are thus still eligible for a free licence.