A LITTLE-KNOWN TV licence rule means that 850,000 households could save £159 a year.
Hundreds of thousands of households are eligible for a free TV licence but aren’t claiming one, according to research by Policy in Practice.
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These households are missing out on combined savings worth £135million.
Anyone who wants to watch live TV including the BBC, ITV and Sky needs to pay for a TV licence otherwise, they will be breaking the law.
The charge for the licence has been frozen at £159 until 2024, but thousands don’t need to pay for one.
There are some scenarios where you can get a free licence, including if you’re on certain benefits.
For example, households on Pension Credit are exempt from paying the fee.
You can apply for the discount on the TV licensing website or by calling 0300 790 6117.
But 850,000 eligible households aren’t claiming Pension Credit which makes you eligible for a free TV licence.
Pension Credit grants you £201 a week – and it’s paid to those who have reached the State Pension age (66) and are on a low income.
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You can get extra amounts to top up the benefit depending on your circumstances.
To qualify, you’ll need to have a weekly income of less than £182.60 for single people or £278.70 for couples.
We’ve explained everything you need to know about applying for Pension Credit below.
What is Pension Credit and who is eligible?
You can get different amounts of Pension Credit depending on your circumstances.
There are two parts to it, and pensioners can be eligible for one or both parts:
- Guarantee credit – tops up your weekly income to a guaranteed minimum level. This is £182.60 a week if you’re single and £278.70 a week for married couples.
- Savings credit – provides extra money if you’ve saved money towards retirement. You can get an extra £14.48 a week for a single person or £16.20 a week for a married couple.
You can also get additional pension credit if you are disabled, have caring responsibilities or have to pay for certain housing costs such as mortgage interest payments.
For instance, you can get either £56.35 a week or £66.85 per week for each child or young person you’re responsible for.
If you have a severe disability you could get an extra £69.40 a week or if you care for another adult you could get an extra £38.85 a week.
To be eligible, you must live in England, Scotland or Wales and have reached state pension age.
But you must also have a low enough income that it needs topping up with Pension Credit.
Your income is calculated based on your state pension allowance, other pensions, your employment and self-employment earnings and some social security benefits, including Carer’s Allowance.
But not all benefits are counted as income, including:
- Adult Disability Payment
- Attendance Allowance
- Christmas Bonus
- Child Benefit
- Disability Living Allowance
- Personal Independence Payment
- social fund payments like Winter Fuel Allowance
- Housing Benefit
- Council Tax Reduction
How do I apply?
You can apply for Pension Credit up to four months before reaching state pension age.
Crucially, you can apply any time after you reach state pension age, but your application can only be backdated by three months.
This means you can get up to three months’ worth of the benefit in your first payment if you were eligible during that period.
But anything beyond that and you won’t get more than three months of backdated payments.
You’ll need some personal information to hand when you apply, including your National Insurance number, and details about your income, savings and investments.
When it comes to actually applying, you can do this online on the government’s website.
You can also apply by phone by calling 0800 991 234 or by post. The address to send your claim form to is:
The Pension Service 8
Post Handling Site B
Wolverhampton
WV99 1AN
