Madam,

Having been given a free TV licence seven years ago as a concessionary gift funded by the government, I have today received an official letter from TV Licensing informing me personally that this arrangement will come to an end in June 2020.

The government has now put the onus for any finance for concessionary licences onto the BBC itself, with the exception of those over 75 on Pension Credit.

I spent over two hours with a lady working for market research giving my opinion on the cessation of free TV licences for the over-75s. I was adamant that the government should not take back this concession unless either they or the BBC were prepared to carry out a test of resources on every UK resident over 75 who watched TV to establish if the viewer could afford the licence - which incidentially if carried out may well cost a similar amount in administration to that paid by the government at present.

I am a realist and know that using Pension Credit as a yardstick cannot possibly give any indication of the difficulty that other pensioners may be experiencing in an effort to make ends meet-especially in Ceredigion and Wales as a whole.

I now request that our AM Elin Jones takes this up with the Assembly and that our MP Ben Lake does so in Parliament, if they have not already started to do so.

It would be interesting to know if the courts would manage to cope with the amount of cases brought before them if the thousands of us decided not to pay, as those of us now in receipt were never informed that this concession could be withdrawn at a whim - a comparison to giving a gift then asking for it back.

I do believe that all of the over 75-year-old residents who will find it difficult to add this fee to their budget will be grateful for any efforts.

Yours etc, Pat Bates, Secretary, North Ceredigion Forum for the Elderly, Penparcau, Aberystwyth.

Have your say on the local issues affecting you - email [email protected] or join in the conversation on our Facebook page