Help for people to make digital TV switch

Older people, some of the unemployed and those with a disability will get help paying for the switch-over to digital television, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has announced.

Analogue TV is due to be switched off by 2012. Starting in Whitehaven at the end of 2007 and the rest of Borders in 2008, the digital switch-over will roll out in the UK by ITV region until the programme is completed in Northern Ireland in 2012.

The scheme announced yesterday has been set up to ensure those most likely to be unable to afford the switch-over do not get left behind.

Those eligible will get help to install and use the equipment necessary to convert one television set per household to digital. It will be free for households with one person aged 75 or older as well as people with a significant disability and those who receive income-related benefits such as income support or income-related jobseekers allowance.

Older and disabled people who do not receive income related benefits will pay a subsidised fee of £40, Ms Jowell confirmed yesterday.

The BBC which has a duty to ensure its services are received by as many people in the UK as possible will fund the estimated £600m costs through the television licence fee. The amount will be ring-fenced under the forthcoming television licence fee settlement.

The announcement was made on the day the Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information) Bill received its second reading in the House of Commons.

The Bill would allow social security and war pensions information to be disclosed to the BBC during digital switch-over to identify people who are eligible for support under the digital switchover help scheme, which will be funded through the television licence fee.

Under the terms of the scheme, extra help switching to digital television will:

• go to all households with one person aged 75 or over
• go to all households where one person has a significant disability (receiving attendance allowance, disability living allowance or equivalent benefits under the war pension or industrial injuries disablement benefit schemes)
• go to households where one person is registered as blind or partially sighted
• go to households receiving income support or income-related jobseekers allowance
• other disadvantaged households will pay a subsidised fee of £40.