Residential Care Television Licence Scheme (Hansard, 18 May 1988)

§ Mr. Hurd

I am today laying amendment regulations, which will come into force from midnight tonight, which set out revised criteria for eligibility for the accommodation for residential care concessionary television licence.

The purpose of the concessionary scheme is to enable pensioners and disabled people who live in residential homes or in sheltered housing provided by a local authority or a housing association to obtain a television licence at a reduced fee. Following a High Court judgment last year it is clear that under the current regulations many people whom the scheme was never intended to benefit would now qualify. The purpose of the new regulations is to reinstate the original intention.

The new regulations therefore define more closely the accommodation which will qualify. In future, in order to qualify for the concessionary licence, the accommodation in question will have to form a group of at least four dwellings, within a common boundary, specially provided by way of erection or conversion only for elderly or disabled people, and provided or run by a local authority or housing association, with a dedicated warden and a common facility for the use of all the occupants.

These amendments will not affect the application of the regulations to residential homes, which will continue to qualify for the concessionary licence if they meet the statutory requirements. However, as a result of changes in the pattern of care for elderly people, I have decided additionally to extend the scope of the concession to nursing homes registered under the relevant legislation. At present, people in such nursing homes who have their own television in their private rooms have to pay the full licence fee. In future, they will be able to enjoy the benefits of the concessionary licence on the same footing as people in residential homes. This will remove an anomaly in the present scheme.

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The new regulations will apply only to new applications received after today. The position of existing beneficiaries is preserved by a provision in the regulations which will enable them to continue to enjoy the concession. This means that anyone living in accommodation which is now covered by the concessionary licence will continue to have the benefit of that concession for as long as he or she occupies that accommodation. This will include most, if not all, of the outstanding applications made before the new regulations come into force.

I have also decided that the concessionary licence fee should be increased from 5p to £5 per year. The fee has not been increased since it was first introduced in 1969, and is now considerably less than the cost of collecting it. During this period the single pension has increased tenfold. The increase is about the same as that which all other pensioners will pay this year for the standard colour television licence, so the concession will remain a valuable benefit. The additional licence revenue will compensate for the enlargement of the scheme over a period.

We do, of course, recognise that there are many elderly and disabled people who do not live in sheltered accommodation, and who do not always find it easy to pay the television licence fee. I have therefore decided to introduce a pay-as-you-go scheme which will enable everyone to pay for their television licence by instalments. This will be available in 1989. Unlike the present instalment scheme, which requires someone to pay a full year's licence in advance before joining the scheme, it will be possible under the new scheme to get a television licence on payment of the first instalment. The aim is to give the licence payer the widest possible choice of ways of paying for the television licence, and of spreading the cost.