2 Protecting vulnerable people during
switchover
8. The Government ring-fenced £603 million
as part of the 2007-08 to 2012-13 licence fee settlement for the
BBC to fund a help scheme offering practical assistance in switching
to digital. The help scheme is open to people aged 75 or over,
those who qualify for certain disability allowances, or people
who are registered blind or partially sighted. The scheme was
designed primarily to provide help in understanding and installing
what equipment may be needed, rather than to provide financial
assistance. It offers the most cost-effective equipment option,
installation by a qualified and accredited supplier and, if required,
an aerial upgrade. Alternatively, it offers a contribution towards
acquiring other ways of receiving free-to-view or pay television
services. Eligible people in receipt of pension credit or income-related
allowances are entitled to free assistance. Those who are not
in receipt of income-related benefits are charged £40 for
assistance.[8]
9. Around seven million households are eligible
to receive assistance in converting to digital television under
the help scheme. However, only about half that number, including
those not eligible for assistance under the help scheme, do not
already have digital television. Eligible people are entitled
to receive assistance under the scheme to convert secondary television
sets to digital, so there is not a direct correlation between
take-up of digital television, measured by primary set conversion,
and demand for the scheme. The conversion of second sets is not
one of the Government's stated policy objectives for switchover.[9]
10. Digital Switchover Help Scheme Limited, the
BBC subsidiary set up to administer the help scheme, is required
to write to all eligible people at least once, and is entitled
to do so up to three times, to inform them about the scheme. However,
lessons from the implementation of the scheme in Copeland highlighted
that communications to eligible people were the weakest aspect
of the scheme. The BBC identified a need to use voluntary groups
and charities to communicate with those that did not respond and
accepted that, in the light of the results from Copeland, more
could be done to increase levels of awareness of the scheme.[10]
11. To establish the success of the scheme in
the absence of arrangements for monitoring help scheme outcomes,
the Departments told us that they had set clear eligibility criteria
and required the help scheme to provide assistance to all those
who are eligible and request it. The Chief Executive of the BBC
company set up to administer the scheme explained that he is incentivised
to try to achieve customer satisfaction rather than take-up of
the scheme. Customer satisfaction had not, however, been specified
as an outcome measure by the Departments.[11]
12. The Departments chose not to set take-up
targets for the help scheme. They told us that they would welcome
eligible people receiving assistance from friends and family,
which would reduce the demand for and therefore the cost of the
help scheme. The witnesses told us that the contract for the help
scheme has been structured so that only the costs of the help
actually delivered are paid, and that lower take-up will therefore
deliver savings against the £603 million ring-fenced for
the help scheme.[12]
13. Although they had not set targets, the Departments
did prepare take-up forecasts in order to determine the funding
requirement for the help scheme. 55% of those aged 75 and over
already have digital television, against a forecast of 42%. Take-up
of the help scheme in Copeland, the flagship project which completed
the switch to digital in November 2007, was much lower than forecast
by the Departments. The Departments suggested that low take-up
was not due to the £40 charge, as only 2% of those who explained
why they did not take up the scheme cited cost. However, only
1,840 people, less than 20% of the 9,500 eligible homes in Copeland,
offered any reason for their decision not to participate in the
scheme, and the BBC's lessons learned research concluded that
many people had perceived the scheme as an expensive way of going
digital (Figure 1).[13]
Figure 1: Forecast and actual take-up of the Digital Switchover Help Scheme in Copeland
Source: C&AG's Report, figure 18
14. The operation of the help scheme in the first
area to switch, Copeland in Cumbria, has provided the only evidence
available to the Departments on scheme take-up. If the level of
take-up in Copeland were repeated throughout the rest of the country,
then using the Departments' own cost model, there would be a surplus
of up to £250 million in the £603 million ring-fenced
for the scheme. The witnesses said that it was too early to determine
the likely outcome, but thought that once switchover reached the
Granada Region in 2009, it should be possible to make a firmer
prediction of whether there will be a surplus or deficit.[14]
15. The Departments have not determined what
will happen to any surplus funding or, if take-up in other areas
turns out to be higher than forecast, how a funding shortfall
will be met. Options put forward by the Departments included returning
any surplus to licence fee payers. However, they did not provide
a complete account of how and when this could be done.[15]
8 Qq 80-81 Back
9
Q 13; C&AG's Report, para 3.11 Back
10
Q 63, C&AG's Report para 4.14 Back
11
Qq 6-7, 62-63 Back
12
Qq 9, 15, 54-57 Back
13
Qq 9-12 ; C&AG's Report, paras 4.22, 4.24, Figure 17 Back
14
Qq 21, 58-59 Back
15
Qq 21-25, 117 Back
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