Residents of St Crispin Village in Northampton had threatened to fight the BBC in court after being sent “terrifying” letters demanding soaring payments.
The residence’s management was accused of contravening the Communications Act, which makes it an offence to watch TV without a licence, by converting a former storage room in the complex into an additional space for visitors to stay the night.
Instead, they would be charged the full licence fee, which rose to £174.50 in April. Residents were sent warning letters, saying that if they failed to pay the fee, they risked visits from enforcement officers and fines of up to £1,000.
St Crispin Village in Duston is one of the UK’s largest retirement communities with more than 270 units (Photo: Change.org)“We have vulnerable widows in their nineties with dementia getting threatening letters and even a 102-year-old woman,” he said.
Now, the BBC has relented in the face of the residents’ uncompromising stance, with any overpayments to be refunded in full.
There are currently 339,000 Accommodation for Residential Care (ARC) licences in force across the UK, with the BBC directly supporting licence fee costs in more than one million households, TV Licensing said.
Fitton believes TV Licensing is seeking “loopholes” that could reduce the number of residential homes that qualify for the vastly reduced-rate licence.
A letter from TV Licensing sent to Stan Fitton, warning that an investigation had been opened (Photo: Stan Fitton)Fitton said: “For me, it’s a very hollow victory. I remain determined to get a clear definition of what constitutes a guest room as requested on the ARC Licence application form.”
Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, the campaign group for pensioners, said: “Hats off to Stan for winning his campaign to have concessionary TV licences restored to his residential complex. When older people are stirred into action by injustices there is no stopping us.”
The UK TV licence fee increased to £174.50 in April (Photo: Peter Dazeley/Getty)
Reed called it “a sneaky way for TV Licensing to get round their responsibilities towards very old people who rely on having a TV in their rooms.”
The body said it was enforcing Government regulations under the Communications Act, rather than its own rules.
The management at St Crispin Village have since confirmed that one of these guest rooms has been converted back into a storeroom, and TV Licensing has been able to reinstate the ARC concession, the agency indicated.
The spokesperson added: “TV Licensing is committed to working with care home operators, their residents, and with relevant charities and organisations to give advice and support, and ensure everyone knows about and can access relevant concessions.”
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