PENSIONERS aged over 75 have just days left to claim for a TV licence grant said to be unique to Bracknell.

Bracknell Town Council (BTC) offers a grant of £30 towards the TV licence of residents aged 65-74 or who are permanently disabled.

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But the introduction of the BBC’s decision to no longer pay for the licences of pensioners aged over 75 unless they receive pension credit means the authority has been forced to change its own scheme.

In order to comply with the Equality Act 2010 by not excluding those aged 75 and older, from January 2021 the criteria to qualify for the town council’s grant will change.

To qualify, residents will need to:

  • Be of State Pension Age (proof of age will be required)
  • Be in receipt of Pension Credit (proof of entitlement will be required, recipients receive a letter every year)
  • Have lived in Bracknell for at least one year (utility bill/bank statement will be required)
  • AND NOT in receipt of a free TV licence or a blind (severely sight impaired) 50 per cent concession.

Bracknell Town Council says it will pay out grants in 2021 to anyone who received it in 2019/2020 even if they are no longer eligible.

As from January 2022, however, the criteria will apply to all.

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The authority also says it will honour anyone who applied for the scheme from August 1 to December 31, 2020, who was disadvantaged due to the previous upper age-limit of 74.

This means those aged 75 and over have just less than three weeks to apply for the TV licence grant.

Applications can be made by clicking here and scrolling to the bottom of the page.

The scheme is only available to those who live in the parish of Bracknell town, and not Binfield, Warfield, Winkfield, Crowthorne or Sandhurst.

The changes were approved at a BTC meeting on Tuesday, December 8.

At the meeting, BTC leader Chris Turrell said: “The council is the only one in the UK which offers this service to help older people out with their television licences and has done so for many years.

“The scheme currently benefits some 500 people in the Bracknell town area.

“I think the consensus of opinion was we wanted to keep the scheme going and we wanted to make it better targeted in terms of people who really needed help with their licence. That is the intention going forward.”

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Labour councillor Mary Temperton expressed her reservations with the scheme, however.

She said: “It was always envisaged this should never be means-tested because the town council does not have the capacity to start looking at everybody’s finances.

“Although I would prefer to carry on with the same scheme, I understand that the council could probably not afford that.

“However, we have to realise the pension credit is only given to someone who has less coming in per week of £173.75 for a single person or, £265.20 for a couple.

“It’s pretty low. My concern is what if you have £174 coming in? You don’t get pension credit.

“I accept this with a lot of hesitation and regret but accept this is a way the council can move forward.”

She called for a review of the scheme six months after its start date, which was accepted by her colleagues on the town council.