Accident waiting

This isn't going away: Age UK say that many pensioners, including those who find it difficult to dress, bathe and get out of bed, will struggle with the procedure of paying or even confirming that they are entitled to a free TV licence.

Charity director Caroline Abrahams said: "The idea that more than a million over-75s who are coping with serious health and care challenges will be able to comply with a new TV licence process, having never done so before, is cloud cuckoo land. However straightforward the process, it will still defeat many of them, unless they have friends and family who can help, and unfortunately a lot don't."

"The BBC's setting up of 'visiting teams' may be designed to be helpful but that's not how most older people we have talked to have reacted to the idea. This is what happens when a government tries to outsource social policy and delivery to a body like the BBC with no experience or expertise in this field - nor with any in-depth understanding of over-75s and their lives. A slow motion car crash is a foregone conclusion if the BBC is allowed to carry on with its means-testing plan."

She called on Boris Johnson to "abide by the last Conservative manifesto and continue to fund a free licence for our over-75s."

So far, 609,000 have signed Age UK's online petition: "Together, we must demand the Government takes back responsibility for funding free TV licences for everyone over 75."