THERE’S been an outcry both locally and nationally this week about the decision by the BBC to scrap blanket free TV licences for the over 75s.

The decision – forced by changes to the way the BBC is funded by the government has sparked understandable outrage from organisations which look after interests of elderly people.

Households where one over-75 person is entitled to pension credit will still qualify for a free licence, but, according to Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon the decision means more than 3,700 elderly couples will lose their entitlement.

He is understandably angry about the move, but lays the blame fairly and squarely at the government’s door for putting the BBC in the position it finds itself in, accusing it of being “inept, in contempt and out of touch”.

It’s difficult not to agree with him on this. He points to a campaign to end loneliness in the elderly community, with 40 per cent of older people saying that the TV is their main source of company.

Nationally, some 1.6 million pensioners living alone will lose their TV licence under a means tested system. Moreover, 1.3 million over 75s are eligible for pension credit but do not claim it, which means that most who are eligible for a free licence will pay the fee anyway.

But the BBC are not entirely blameless. Following a week when the 75th anniversary of the D-Day Normandy landings which marked the beginning of the end of the Second World War received extensive BBC coverage celebrating the bravery of service personnel, many of whom are now in the 90s, the broadcaster should hang its head in shame at this decision.