The BBC has confirmed that TV Licensing will visit the properties of over-75 TV licence holders to confirm their eligibility for the concession.
Pensioners who claim an over-75 TV licence but fail to provide evidence of their entitlement to pension credit will be targeted by the new TV Licensing "outreach team", which will be employed by the existing operations contractor Capita Business Services Ltd.
Given TV Licensing's modus operandi, there are genuine fears that unscrupulous Capita goons - of which we've seen quite a few over the years - will use hard sell tactics on elderly Britons.
Clare Sumner, the BBC's Director of Policy, told members of the House of Commons Culture Select Committee that the visits would be "as sympathetic as possible" and would be conducted by "a different cohort of people to those that currently enforce the TV licence fee". The new team would help explain the new system to pensioners, Sumner said.
Brendan O'Hara, SNP MP for Argyll and Bute, voiced concerns about TV Licensing visiting vulnerable pensioners in their homes. the plan.
He asked Sumner: "A licence fee person comes to your door and you are a poor pensioner who simply can't afford to pay it - that will be pretty traumatic, don’t you think?"
Sumner replied that the visits would not come as a surprise, as every current over-75 TV licence holder had already received a letter explaining the change in eligibility rules. Special arrangements were being put in place for those over-75s losing their entitlement to a free TV licence to pay for one in small instalments. A second letter would be sent to affected parties in February 2020, she added.
Caroline Abrahams, Director of Age UK, said: "The more we hear about how the BBC proposes to run its new scheme from June 2020, the more filled with foreboding we are becoming.
"Unfortunately, these comments today certainly don't correct the impression we are gaining that it's going to be chaos at best and deeply upsetting for some of our oldest people at worst... this situation has all the makings of a slow motion car crash, with many older people inexcusably getting hurt."
With effect from 1st June 2020, only those over-75s in receipt of pension credit will be eligible for a concessionary TV licence. Around 3.7 million households that currently receive a "free" over-75 TV licence will have to pay the full licence fee if they wish to continue viewing TV programmes (or BBC on-demand programmes via the iPlayer).
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