大象传媒

Following a public consultation, the 大象传媒 Board has decided that from August 2020 any household with someone aged over 75 who receives Pension Credit will be entitled to a free TV licence paid for by the 大象传媒.

Currently all households with people over 75 are entitled to a free TV licence. That Government-funded scheme - which is expected to cost £745m by 2021/22 - comes to an end in 2020. The 大象传媒 was given responsibility – through legislation - for deciding on any future scheme and to pay for it.

The Board believes this is the fairest option to help the poorest pensioners. It is also the fairest option for all licence fee payers as this means everyone will continue to receive the best programmes and services that the 大象传媒 can provide.

Over 1.5 million households could get free TV licences if someone is over 75 and receives Pension Credit.

The new scheme will cost the 大象传媒 up to £250 million by 2021/22 depending on implementation.

In taking the decision, the Board has been guided by three key principles:

• Fairness - the potential impact on older age groups and the potential impact on all licence fee payers, across all generations.
• Financial impact - the cost of any concession to the 大象传媒, and the possible effect this might have on programmes and services.
• Feasibility - being able to implement any new concession simply and effectively.

The Board’s decision document, updated Equality Impact Assessment and supporting evidence used to inform the 大象传媒 Board’s decision are published below, along with those consultation responses which we have been given permission to publish.

If you currently receive a free TV licence, you can read more about .

大象传媒 decision

This document describes how the 大象传媒 Board has reached its decision, and the factors it has taken into account.

This document gives effect in legal language to how the 大象传媒 will implement the policy decision taken by the 大象传媒 Board.

Equality Impact Assessment

We are also publishing an updated Equality Impact Assessment which the Board has considered in making its decision.

Consultation responses and supporting evidence

On 20 November 2018, the 大象传媒 opened a 12 week consultation on TV licences for older people. More than 190,000 people shared their views with us. These views are set out in four reports commissioned by the 大象传媒. We are publishing these reports in full:

• , analysing responses from around 85,000 members of the public to the 大象传媒鈥檚 consultation
•  analysing responses from 115 stakeholders to the 大象传媒鈥檚 consultation including surveys such as the one carried out by 38 Degrees which had almost 100,000 responses
•  summarising interviews with 115 stakeholders
•  who conducted additional qualitative research with over 250 members of the public

Stakeholder responses

We received 115 responses from stakeholders. Where permission has been given or responses are already in the public domain, these are published below:

Consultation (now closed)

The 大象传媒鈥檚 consultation on TV licences for older people was open from 20 November 2018 to 12 February 2019 and is now closed.

Alongside these documents the 大象传媒 also published . This provided some detailed analysis on possible ways to approach the new decision the 大象传媒鈥檚 Board had to make. In addition, Frontier Economics published  which discussed the changing landscape since 2000, intergenerational fairness and the changing financial context.