The BBC has said that it will not enforce new TV licence rules applying to the over-75s, for the time being.
The BBC, by virtue of the Broadcasting Act 1990, is the statutory Television Licensing Authority. It performs its statutory function under the guise of TV Licensing, but the BBC retains full legal responsibility for all aspects of TV licence enforcement and administration.
New rules came into force on 1st August 2020, which mean that the only over-75 households entitled to a free TV licence are those in receipt of Pension Credit. Prior to that every over-75 household was eligible for the concession.
At a stroke 3.7 million over-75 households became eligible to pay the full TV licence fee, if they wanted to continue receiving TV programmes at the time of broadcast or BBC on-demand programmes via the iPlayer.
The BBC wrote to each over-75 household to explain the new rules. The letter ominously warned that if no response was forthcoming the household's current TV licence, which was obtained under the previous rules, would be cancelled after two months.
The changing rules were met with fury by campaign groups and almost a million over-75 households have thus-far refused to stump up the TV licence fee.
It now transpires that despite the BBC's bull and bluster, it has not cancelled a single over-75 TV licence issued under the previous rules. Furthermore, TV Licensing has not prosecuted a single over-75 refusnik for failing to pay TV licence fee.
As with most things at the moment, coronavirus is a convenient excuse for the BBC's inaction. In reality, the BBC lacks appetite to prosecute over-75s because of the deluge of negative publicity that would ensue - negative publicity at a time when the future of both national broadcaster and TV licence are under greater scrutiny than ever before.
Speaking to the Telegraph, a BBC spokesman said: "In light of ongoing challenges to many of our customers caused by the coronavirus, we're giving older people a bit more time to make arrangements for their next licence. We're writing to customers to reassure them of this.
"The letter explains that customers who previously held a free over-75 licence up to 31st July 2020 are still legally covered, and we are giving them time to either arrange payment for a licence or claim a free one."
In common with every other TV licence holder, any over-75 who pays belatedly will find their new TV licence is backdated to cover what TV Licensing perceive as the unlicensed period (e.g. from 1st August 2020).
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