Commons Briefing paper by John Woodhouse. It was first published on Friday, 25 June 2010. It was last updated on Wednesday, 14 January 2026.
TV licences for the over-75s
Under the Communications Act 2003, a television licence is needed to:
- watch or record TV on any channel on any TV service (like Sky, Virgin Media and Freeview)
- watch live on streaming services (like ITVX, All 4, YouTube and Amazon Prime Video)
- use BBC iPlayer
The 2003 act is supported by the Communications (Television Licensing) Regulations. These set out the types of television licence, the criteria for obtaining them, the fees payable, and the concessions that are available.
Since 1 August 2020, people aged over-75 who are in receipt of Pension Credit have been eligible for a free TV licence. The TV Licensing website has information on the concession.
Before 1 August 2020, all those aged over-75 were eligible for a free licence. This Library briefing explains why eligibility for a free licence changed.
Secondary information
- Type
- Research briefing
- Reference
- SN04955
- Related items
- Subjects
- BBC Concessions Fees and charges Pension credit Older people Reviews Royal charters Television licences
- Legislation
- Communications Act 2003
- Published by
- Home Affairs Section
- House of Commons Library
- Link
- View this Research briefing on researchbriefings.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2026-01-15 11:20:58 +0000
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/resources/342094
- In Indexing
- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/resources/342094
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/resources/342094
- Internal location
- http://researchbriefingsintranet.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN04955