It’s not the biggest austerity measure this decade, and it certainly won’t gain the most attention, but there’s one Conservative cut that’s quietly lining up to cause significant harm: taking the free TV licence away from people over the age of 75.

The free licences were introduced by Labour in 1999 as part of a plan to improve conditions for pensioners, with the cost funded by government. But in 2015, the Conservatives announced they would phase this out by 2020 and push the financial burden on to the BBC, despite making a manifesto promise to keep up the £745m a year funding. Unable to cover the cost, and after a lengthy consultation, the BBC says it will need all those aged 75 or over to pay the £154.50 annual fee from next June, apart from those who can show they claim the means-tested pension credit.

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Now new research by Labour from the House of Commons library estimates that more than half a million older people with dementia could lose their free licence as a result of the policy. That includes 140,000 aged 90 or over.

This has always been a cruel cut, and the latest research confirms it. For many, the TV is more than a box in the corner of the room: it’s a friendly voice, when you’ve not talked to someone in a week, or a humming light in a dark night. Four out of 10 older people say television is “their main company”, something that is all the more the case for the half of all over-75s who live with a disability.

That it’s affecting those with dementia – who may well struggle to fill in the forms – is not only a sign of how low the policy sinks but of how flawed means testing is as a solution. Means testing is notoriously complex; it’s estimated it would cost £72m to administer the new system, money that could be spent helping older and isolated people. We also know that means testing leads to large numbers of those in need missing out; some are in hardship but don’t meet the strict poverty threshold, and some don’t know about the benefits, while others are reluctant to claim (frequently the case with older people, who often internalise a desire to “stand on their own two feet”).

The system too often essentially criminalises people for being poor, unwell, or even illiterate

Besides, this is a matter of principle as much as practicality. That some retirees are wealthy is often used as an argument against blanket benefits, but the universal provision at the centre of free licences holds great value: no matter who you are, all older pensioners are entitled to a dignified retirement.

Removing the free TV licence is more chipping away at social programmes that have been dismantled in recent years, something that is all the more grim at a time of growing pensioner hardship. The number of pensioners in poverty has risen from 1.6 million three years ago to 1.9 million, and is estimated to top 2 million by 2022.

As Gordon Brown, who as chancellor introduced the free licence, has warned, cutting this support becomes worse still when you consider failure to pay a TV licence is a criminal (not civil) offence, resulting in a fine or even imprisonment. It is not outlandish to imagine an 80-year-old hauled to a magistrates hearing because they have lost their free licence and failed to pay up: one in every 10 court cases is already over non-payment of TV licences.

The issue with the TV licence support scheme has never been that it is too generous, but that it is not quite generous enough. Disabled and chronically ill people of working age can be just as likely to be isolated because of poor health and poverty, but they don’t get the same support as their older counterparts. I’ve spoken to several disabled people in recent years who have had to give up their television because they could no longer afford the licence, often owing to having their disability benefit cut. Already isolated, their only social lifeline was removed. You only have to talk to those who have been caught without a TV licence to know the system too often essentially criminalises people for being poor, unwell or even illiterate.

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Boris Johnson seems keen to announce public spending pledges – why not reverse the decision to end the free TV licence? If humane reasons aren’t enough, consider the economic arguments. Like many social programmes, it’s not a stretch to imagine that the free licence ultimately saves the government money; a London School of Economics study of older people in 2017 found loneliness costs £6,000 per person in health costs and pressure on local services, and for every £1 spent in preventing loneliness there are up to £3 of savings.

It’s often said that austerity measures are implemented by governments that know the cost of everything but the value of nothing. As isolated older people risk losing their only window on to the outside world, ministers might want to consider what really matters.

• Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist