Some people in sheltered housing are paying far more for their TV licence than they should, a councillor has warned.
West End councillor Fraser Macpherson has claimed that anomalies in the concessionary licence scheme mean some under-75s are having to pay the full rate of £145.50 per year when they should be charged only £7.50.
The principle of the concessionary TV licence was that it would recognise the special circumstances of elderly people in sheltered housing and Mr Macpherson argued it was not fair that some tenants were not receiving the benefit.
“I have now taken up the matter with TV Licensing following concerns raised by sheltered tenants in parts of the Logie estate,” he said.
“Parts of the sheltered housing here qualify and other streets do not. I am arguing that all the sheltered tenants in the estate should qualify for the cheaper licence.”
A city council housing officer said: “TV Licensing were given a list of all our sheltered properties some time ago and they drew up a series of designated areas across the city. As long as all the properties within a designated area remained sheltered, all incoming tenants would be entitled to a discounted licence.
“However, when all the properties in a designated area are no longer sheltered, incoming tenants no longer qualify for a discount unless they are over 75 or visually impaired.
“Just to further complicate matters, there are a few complexes where part of the complex retains the entitlement to discount and the remaining part does not. The remaining part only has preserved rights (for existing tenants).
“This is because of the way TV Licensing has drawn the boundaries of their designated areas. Logie sheltered housing falls into this category some of the streets in Logie are entitled to a discount, whereas others will not.”