More than 1.3 million pensioners with care needs will struggle to pay their TV licence once the concession is scrapped next year, according to Age UK

The BBC will no longer be funding the TV licence for people aged over-75 from next June, although those claiming Pension Credit will still be able to claim a free TV licence.

Age UK says almost 700,000 over-75s with dementia and 660,000 who are severely frail are likely to be totally dependent on friends and family to comply with the new rules.

The charity said many pensioners, including those who have difficulty dressing, bathing, eating and getting in and out of bed, will have difficulty paying the licence or proving they are eligible for a free one.

Under the BBC’s plans from June 2020, these pensioners will be required to buy a TV licence, in many cases for the first time in years. Alternatively they will need to “self-validate” that they are in receipt of Pension Credit, entitling them to a free licence.

Age UK has warned that if they are not able to do these things they will be breaking the law, unless they give up watching TV.

Last week the BBC said that it is commissioning Capita to set up teams to visit older people in their own homes if they are unable to complete their new processes – an idea widely criticised as “threatening” by commentators.

The charity is calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to take back responsibility for funding free licences for the over-75s. More than four-fifths (83 per cent) of those polled by Age UK believe the Conservative Party should keep its manifesto pledge to fund free TV licences  for the over-75s for the duration of this parliament.

Age UK has been inundated with support for its #SwitchedOff campaign since the BBC made its announcement to means-test TV licences for the over-75s last month.

Its online petition has passed the 600,000 mark and the charity has been flooded with calls and emails from people across the country worried about losing their free TV licence, or concerned for others who may be affected.

Caroline Abrahams, Age UK’s charity director, 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 older people we are talking about here – who are often backwards and forwards to hospital, in the twilight of their lives – have more than enough to deal with on a day to day basis without having to jump through these hoops, just to keep watching their TV. It is unfair to put them through this – and it is already clear that many will be deeply worried about ‘getting it wrong’ and somehow finding themselves on the wrong side of the law. 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.”