Angry pensioners gathered outside the BBC in Belfast today to protest against the corporation’s decision to withdraw free TV licences from the over-75s.
Demonstrators met at the BBC’s Northern Ireland Ormeau Avenue base as part of a national backlash against the controversial decision announced earlier this month.
John Martin from the National Pensioners Convention said if older people didn’t fight for their free TV licence, other benefits could be next.
He added: “It might not sound like a lot of money for some people, but living on the state pension means people have a limited about of money and no means of increasing it.
“They are living on a specific budget every week, they cannot go and get a new job or do some overtime to boost their income.
“For many, every penny is accounted for and eating into it in this way is simply hammering the people who can least afford it.”
Representatives from unions Unite, GMB, Nipsa and Unison turned up to offer their support.
Funding for the free TV licences, which over-75s have enjoyed for almost two decades, is due to be transferred from the government to the BBC next year after a deal on its new charter was hammered out in 2015.
The Beeb said the licences would be means-tested under a new scheme going forward, restricting free licences to over-75s claiming Pension Credit from June 1 2020.
More than half a million people have signed petitions calling on the Government to protect the existing TV licence.
Earlier this week it emerged that 320 MPs have claimed £154.50 for a TV licence at their second home or constituency, with the bill hitting £323,104 since 2010 according to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.
Enniskillen pensioner and NPC regional secretary John, 72, said the move was disgusting.
“The whole thing started with the Tory government putting the decision into the hands of the BBC,” he added. “It should not be the job of the BBC to define benefits. That is a job for government.
“However the decision is wrong, and it has left many people right across Northern Ireland and around the UK deeply upset.
“On a national scale, the savings will be a drop in the ocean for them, but for the people impacted it will be hugely distressing.
“I can just about afford to pay it myself, but I’m thinking of the many more who can’t. There are huge numbers of older single people living out in the country and alone in our towns, and their only guaranteed daily contact with the outside world is the TV in the corner.
"Now we’re saying to them, that’s gone too. It’s disgusting and has left people deeply upset.”
Grandfather of three John, who was a postman for 27 years before he retired, said the NPC is opposed to the idea of means testing for a free TV licence.
He added: “This puts the onus back on the pensioner to make their own case for free TV licence.
“Never mind the administrative costs, this will mean complicated paperwork to fill in, heaping stress on older people who already have enough to deal with.
“First the government started making big cuts against people on housing benefits. Now it’s us. If older people don’t fight back on this one, then they’ll be after the fuel allowance and our bus passes next.”
Victor Murphy, joint chair of Unison's Retired Members' Forum, said the move was 'scandalous'.
"It's the Tory government again who insisted the BBC took this on," he added.
"It's the Tory government once again doing this, and they're actually breaking a manifesto pledge that Cameron gave that they would not touch universal benefits for pensioners.
"Then at the same time we've got the likely future Prime Minister in Boris Johnson potentially going to bring in tax cuts for the highest earners in the country. It's absolutely scandalous."
TV licence in numbers
£154.50 - cost of TV licence for a colour TV
180,000 - people prosecuted for not paying the licence fee in 2012/13
£52 - cost of a black and white TV licence
£1,000 - maximum fine, as well as a criminal record, for watching TV without a valid licence
3.7 million - pensioners are expected to lose out on a free TV licence under the new scheme
1.5 million - households are thought to still be eligible under new rules
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