State pensioners told to reduce TV Licence bill to £0 with two legal methods

Pensioners tin chopped their TV Licence measure to £0 (Image: Getty)

State pensioners are being urged to trim their TV Licence to £0 legally this wintertime successful a bid to assistance chopped bills successful the aftermath of the nonaccomplishment of the £300 Winter Fuel Payment.

There are 2 ways you tin legally chopped your TV Licence to £0 if you’re a authorities pensioner - some of which are afloat ineligible and won’t onshore you a tribunal summons, redeeming you £169.50 per year.

First, for pensioners aged implicit 75, you tin use for Pension Credit if your income is little than £218 per week.

Those connected the aged state pension, i.e. who reached pension property earlier 2016, volition person astir £169 per week truthful volition beryllium eligible to assertion Pension Credit assuming they person nary different income similar a 2nd property, a backstage pension oregon ample amounts of savings interest.

Not lone volition this besides springiness you your £300 Winter Fuel Payment back, but you’ll besides beryllium capable to assertion a escaped TV Licence if aged implicit 75.

The 2nd method is much cosmopolitan and is unfastened to anybody of immoderate property to chopped your TV Licence measure to nothing.

What galore don’t realise is that you legally don’t request a TV Licence if you don’t ticker BBC contented (live oregon connected iPlayer) and you don’t ticker unrecorded contented connected catch-up services.

So, for example, if you person a TV but it’s not hooked up to an outer aerial oregon tuned in, and you lone usage TV apps, arsenic agelong arsenic you don’t ticker TV arsenic it’s broadcast and don’t ticker BBC ever, you bash not request a TV licence.

For illustration if you ticker Coronation Street connected drawback up connected ITVX, you don’t request a TV licence arsenic agelong arsenic you don’t ticker it arsenic it’s being broadcast.

What bash I request a TV licence for? 

A TV licence is simply a ineligible request if you bash immoderate of these:

• watch oregon grounds TV connected immoderate transmission via immoderate TV work (such arsenic Sky, Virgin, Freeview, Freesat)

• watch unrecorded contented connected streaming services (e.g. ITVX, Channel 4, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Now, Sky Go)

• use BBC iPlayer astatine all

• watch DVDs oregon Blurays (yes, they inactive beryllium and according to caller reports, income are up arsenic radical ditch costly streamers to spell backmost to gathering their ain collections)

• watch Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video oregon Apple TV arsenic agelong arsenic it's NOT unrecorded content. E.g. you tin ticker Drive To Survive, Stranger Things, Ted Lasso oregon Clarkson's Farm without a TV Licence, wholly legally. But if you stray implicit to watching a unrecorded Premier League crippled connected that aforesaid Amazon Prime sub, you'll request a Licence.

• As TV Licensing says: "You request to beryllium covered by a TV licence to ticker programmes unrecorded connected immoderate online TV work - specified arsenic ITVX, Channel 4, Amazon Prime Video, Now oregon Sky Go. You don’t request a TV licence if you lone ever ticker on-demand programmes connected immoderate TV work isolated from BBC iPlayer."

• LIVE is not conscionable unrecorded arsenic successful a unrecorded match, but if you ticker Coronation Street arsenic it's being broadcast 'live', you request a TV licence. However, if you ticker an ITV oregon Channel 4 amusement connected catch-up later, you don't request a licence for that.