Saving money is high on most people’s agenda right now but some Britons could be paying for their TV licence unnecessarily and throwing away £159 a year. Some people might be able to get a refund on their BBC licence fee or apply for a discount from TV Licensing.
To apply for a refund people should double check they won’t be watching live TV in the future and then go to the TV licensing website
TV licences were free for all people aged 75 and over between November 2000 and the end of July 2020.
Since then, pensioners only qualify if they are considered to be on a low income and in receipt of pension credit.
Some 850,000 people who have reached state pension age are still missing out on pension credit which could lead to other financial help on top of a free TV licence.
Anna Stevenson, from poverty charity Turn2Us, told the BBC’s Rip Off Britain programme £15billion is lost in unclaimed benefits every year, with millions of people missing out on thousands of pounds in support.
She said thousands of pensioners are missing out on payments worth £200 per week.
Ms Stevenson added: “We know that Pension Credit is really underclaimed – so, that’s a top up benefit for people over pension age.
“From April it’ll be worth about £200 a week for a single person so if you’re over 66 – it’s well worth checking – you could be entitled to some Pension Credit.”
Meanwhile, the state pension rate is rising in April, however, not all pensioners are eligible for the full state pension when they retire.
To earn the full new state pension of £203.85, retirees must have 35 qualifying years.
There is a handy tool on the Government website which allows users to log in using their Government Gateway ID.
This shows details of when people can retire and how much they are forecast to get depending on their retirement age.
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