The little-known TV licensing rule means thousands of households could save £159 a year
HUNDREDS of thousands of households could save £159 a year with a little-known TV licensing rule.
Anyone who wants to watch live TV, including the BBC, ITV and Sky, must pay for a TV license or they will be breaking the law.
The annual fee for the license was frozen at £159, but will rise to £169.50 from April 1 – an increase of £14.50.
But there are some scenarios where you can get a free license even if you have certain benefits.
If you have a pension credit and are over 75, you may be exempt, meaning you could save a lot of money.
You can request the discount on the TV license website or by calling 0300 790 6117.
But 850,000 eligible households don’t claim the benefit, meaning you could be eligible for a free TV licence.
While not all of these households will be over 75 now, they can receive the perk once they reach the milestone.
Pension Credit tops up state pension payments of up to £201 per week – and is paid to those who have reached state pension age (66) and are on a low income.
Depending on your circumstances, you may receive additional amounts on top of this.
To qualify, you must have a weekly income of less than €182.60 for singles or €278.70 for couples.
Minimum repayments for pension credits are also expected to rise by 8.5% in April.
This means that state pension benefits for single households will be topped up to £218.15 per week.
Below you can read everything you need to know about applying for Pension Credit.
What is Pension Credit and who is eligible for it?
Depending on your circumstances, you can receive different amounts of pension credit.
It consists of two parts and retirees can qualify for one or both parts:
- Guarantee credit – supplements your weekly income to a guaranteed minimum level. This is £201.05 per week if you are single and £306.85 per week for married couples.
- Savings credit – offers extra money if you have saved money for your pension. You can get an extra £15.94 per week for a single person or £17.84 per week for a married couple.
You can also receive an additional pension discount if you are disabled, have caring responsibilities or have to pay certain housing costs, such as mortgage interest.
For example, you could get €72.31 per week or €61.88 per week for each child or young person you are responsible for.
How to watch TV legally without paying for a license
You can legally use the following services without a TV license, as long as you don’t use them to watch or stream live TV:
- On demand television – such as catch-up TV and on-demand previews, available through services including ITV Player, All 4, My5, BT Vision/BT TV, Virgin Media, Sky Go, Now TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku and Amazon Fire TV. Without a TV license you cannot watch or download programs on BBC iPlayer.
- Movies on demand – from services such as Sky, Virgin Media, BT Vision, Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.
- Included movies and programs – via DVD or Blu-ray, or downloaded from the internet.
- YouTube – Video clips that are not live via services such as YouTube.
If you have a serious disability, you can receive an extra €76.40 per week. If you care for another adult, you can get an extra €52.75 per week.
To be eligible, you must live in England, Scotland or Wales and be of state pension age.
But you must also have an income that is so low that it must be supplemented with Pension Credit.
Your income is calculated on the basis of your AOW benefit, other pensions, your income from work and self-employment and certain social security benefits, including the informal care allowance.
But not all benefits are counted as income, including:
- Adult Disability Payment
- Attendance allowance
- Christmas bonus
- Child benefits
- Housing benefit for the disabled
- Personal Independence Payment
- social fund payments such as winter fuel surcharge
- Housing benefit
- Municipal tax reduction
How do I register?
You can apply for a Pension Credit up to four months before reaching the state pension age.
Crucially, you can claim at any time after reaching state pension age, but your claim can only be made backdated by three months.
This means you can get up to three months of benefits with your first payment if you were eligible during that period.
But if you go further, you won’t get more than three months’ back payments.
With your application you will need a number of personal information, including your citizen service number and information about your income, savings and investments.
When it comes to actually applying, you can do this online on the government website.
You can also apply by telephone on 0800 991 234 or by post. The address to send your claim form to is:
The Pension Service 8
Mail processing location B
Wolverhampton
WV99 1AN
How do I get paid?
Your benefits are usually paid into an account, such as a bank account.
They are usually paid every four weeks.
When you make a claim you will be asked for details of your bank, building society or credit union.
But if you’re having trouble opening or managing an account, you may be able to claim in another way.
Do you have a money problem that needs to be solved? Get in touch by emailing money@the-sun.co.uk.
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