"PEOPLE over the age of 75 include people caring for someone with dementia and people who have dementia.
Most people with dementia are in that age group so they are going to be disproportionately affected by this.
Dementia doesn’t come alone, it’s an incredibly expensive condition.
There are lots of expensive conditions but the difference with dementia is you have to pay for most of it yourself.
READ MORE: Charities hit out at BBC's decision to means test TV licences
Research was done a number of years ago on the use of television by people with dementia and it is different from the use in other populations.
For many people who are caring for someone with dementia, watching a favourite thing on the telly is a great way of reducing stress.
Means-testing is humiliating. It is not infrequent for people of lower means to hesitate to be means tested for benefits that they are entitled to and the evidence for this is in the fact a large number of people are not claiming those benefits.
Dementia is a feminist issue and the loss of free TV licences will affect more women than it’ll affect men. More women get it, more women are carers, and more women work in the low-paid jobs that look after people with dementia.
READ MORE: ANALYSIS: ‘It’s time to do the right thing for the elderly’
It just feels mean. Why not put an extra pound on the licence fee for everybody under the age of 65?
I’m sorry the BBC has been given this stinking job. People over the age of 75 have increasing problems and I think it’s a very brave government that would do this but they’ve delegated it to the BBC and that’s just cowardly."
Professor June Andrews is adviser to Dementia Services Development Trust.
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