Free TV licences used to be available to everyone over the age of 75. However, from 1st August 2020 only pensioners aged over 75 and in receipt of Pension Credit will qualify.
Pension Credit is a valuable benefit topping up a pensioner’s weekly income if it’s below £173.75 for single pensioners and £265.20 for pensioner couples. It also acts as a gateway to other benefits including help with council tax and utility bills. However, take up remains stubbornly low with up to 1.2m families who could claim Pension Credit not doing so.
In February 2020 the Department for Work and Pensions launched a 12 week national awareness campaign aimed at boosting Pension Credit take up. An FOI tabled by Royal London showed application numbers were boosted by almost 40,000 during this time. However, there are still many thousands of people who could qualify that have yet to do so.
Helen Morrissey, pension specialist at Royal London, said: “Pension Credit is there to help the very poorest of pensioners and it is vital that all those who are able to claim do so. Those who don’t will need to pay for their TV licence and miss out on important assistance with other bills. The recent DWP awareness campaign has boosted take up but there is still such a long way to go to raise awareness of this valuable benefit.”
You can claim Pension Credit online, by phone or through the post. More details can be found here
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