BBC hits retirement home pensioners with £167 licence fee increase
Pensioners have been hit with an 'outrageous' £167 licence fee increase after the BBC said their retirement home had broken discount rules.
Residents of St Crispin Village in Northampton are considering fighting the BBC in court amid an ongoing dispute in which a 102-year-old woman was sent 'threatening' letters demanding payment.
Retirees over 60 are entitled to a discounted annual TV licence costing £7.50 if they live in an eligible residential care home or supported housing.
Until recently, residents in St Crispin's 270 bungalows and apartments, which share one TV aerial, were paying this discounted rate.
But after a former storage room in the complex was converted into an additional space for visitors to stay the night, the residence's management was informed that it had contravened the TV Licensing Act.
TV Licensing sent letters to nearly 100 residents telling them they would now have to pay the full £174.50 or risk visits from enforcement officers and £1,000 fines.
Stan Fitton, 83, told The Telegraph that the letters had 'frightened the life' out of his neighbours at St Crispin, some of whom suffer from dementia.
He added: 'If you receive a letter with a big official stamp saying that we're going to send the heavies in and you must pay – if you're a 90-year-old widow you're going to be terrified. It's outrageous.'
Lesley, a widowed St Crispin Village resident in her 80s, said: 'I feel most aggrieved. Those letters are so aggressive and rude. I've had four or five in total.
'I'm still quite active, but there are a lot of people here who are not and rely on the television to keep them occupied. It's like a friend. So they will have to cough up.
'A lot of people have been so scared that they've gone and bought the licence. They're like most pensioners on a limited budget.'
The BBC has ramped up its enforcement of the TV licence fee as it battles to reverse tumbling revenues.
The broadcaster's latest financial results revealed it had suffered from an £80m drop in licence fee revenues, its main source of income.
The Telegraph revealed in February that the corporation bombarded British households with 41 million letters urging them to pay the licence fee between 2023 and 2024, a 13pc increase year-on-year.
The licence fee rose from £169.50 to £174.50 this month, in line with inflation. Retirees aged over 75 who receive pension credit are exempt from paying the licence fee.
TV Licensing said: 'We continue to liaise with the managers of St Crispin Retirement Village and hope to have this matter resolved as soon as possible.'
Housing21, the management company for St Crispin, was approached for comment.
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