Silver Voices sent an update on this subject. It made me glad I only sent an enquiry letter in my prepaid envelope instead of a cheque......
Free TV Licence Campaign
The meeting between the BBC Director General Tim Davie and our Director, Dennis Reed, is scheduled for next week (13 October). A report of the meeting will follow the next day. Despite various statements from Mr. Davie that the policy to scrap free TV licences for the over 75s will not be “reversed”, we will be urging flexibility and compromise from the BBC in the short-term as older people are again facing periods of lockdown or self-isolation. Our commitment to the restoration of free licences for all over 75s will not compromised, but we also want immediate action to tide vulnerable older people through the second wave of the pandemic. So, we will explore suggestions such as licence holidays and voluntary schemes.
We are not optimistic of movement from the BBC, given the bellicose statements that have been made, but we will give Mr. Davie a chance to agree a solution. Whatever the outcome, all members will be consulted on the next steps.
We have had a couple of minor victories in our ‘gum up the works’ battle with TV Licensing to complicate and delay payments. Several members have reported that, after an argument, TV Licensing has accepted that new licences should run from 1 October instead of 1 August because of the late arrival of notification letters. Also, a number of members have reported that TV Licensing has accepted weekly or monthly cash or cheque payments, despite claiming these are not acceptable methods of payment. These may be mistakes by TV Licensing staff, but they create useful precedents which can be quoted by others. The legal justification for backdating licences to 1 August, and for insisting on certain types of payment methods, is moot in any case.
4 October 2020
Free TV Licence Campaign
The meeting between the BBC Director General Tim Davie and our Director, Dennis Reed, is scheduled for next week (13 October). A report of the meeting will follow the next day. Despite various statements from Mr. Davie that the policy to scrap free TV licences for the over 75s will not be “reversed”, we will be urging flexibility and compromise from the BBC in the short-term as older people are again facing periods of lockdown or self-isolation. Our commitment to the restoration of free licences for all over 75s will not compromised, but we also want immediate action to tide vulnerable older people through the second wave of the pandemic. So, we will explore suggestions such as licence holidays and voluntary schemes.
We are not optimistic of movement from the BBC, given the bellicose statements that have been made, but we will give Mr. Davie a chance to agree a solution. Whatever the outcome, all members will be consulted on the next steps.
We have had a couple of minor victories in our ‘gum up the works’ battle with TV Licensing to complicate and delay payments. Several members have reported that, after an argument, TV Licensing has accepted that new licences should run from 1 October instead of 1 August because of the late arrival of notification letters. Also, a number of members have reported that TV Licensing has accepted weekly or monthly cash or cheque payments, despite claiming these are not acceptable methods of payment. These may be mistakes by TV Licensing staff, but they create useful precedents which can be quoted by others. The legal justification for backdating licences to 1 August, and for insisting on certain types of payment methods, is moot in any case.
4 October 2020
