State pensioners across the UK can reduce their TV Licence bill to £0 in just 16 minutes.
Currently, a TV Licence costs UK households £169.50 per year, but the fee is rising by £5 from April to £174.50, adding an extra 42p per month to bills.
Any household that watches or records live TV on any channel or service, or watches content on BBC iPlayer, must have a TV Licence.
But for state pensioners aged 75 and over, it’s possible to get a TV Licence completely free if you are claiming one government benefit.
Pension Credit provides extra cash to help people of State Pension age and on a low income with living costs, and is worth up to £4,200 per year.
For those who qualify, the benefit tops up your weekly income to £218.15 if you’re single, or your joint weekly income to £332.95, but it also comes with a wealth of other perks.
Pension Credit acts as a gateway benefit so those who are eligible can also get help with things like housing costs, council tax discounts, energy bills and a free TV licence.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says it only takes 16 minutes on average to apply and it can unlock thousands of pounds worth of financial support.
But for those who don’t meet the eligibility criteria for Pension Credit, there are other ways to reduce your TV Licence bill, or avoid it altogether.
TV Licences are per household, not per person, so if you live in a house with several people you don’t all need to have one in some cases and could all chip in to share the cost of one licence.
You can share a TV Licence among the whole household if you watch TV in a single shared area, or have a joint tenancy agreement. But if you have separate tenancy agreements and watch TV in your own room then you will need to pay for your own.
You also don’t need a TV Licence to watch streaming services, such as Netflix and Disney Plus, on-demand TV through services like All 4 and Amazon Prime Video, videos on websites such as YouTube, or DVDs and Blurays.
So if you’re happy to just stick to watching any of these, and not watch or record any live TV or BBC iPlayer, you can save yourself £174.50. But if you do watch or record live TV without a TV Licence then you can be issued a fine of up to £1,000.
