Over-75s will no longer automatically qualify for a free TV licence in a move branded "an absolute disgrace" by a pensioners' charity.

The channel's director-general Tony Hall said all households without someone who receives Pension Credit will now have to pay for the licence.

From June 2020 around 3.7 million UK households which previously received a free licence will now have to pay for one.

It is thought 1.5 million households will be eligible for the free licence under the new scheme, which will cost the BBC around £250m by 2021/22 depending on the take-up.

Licence fees were being reviewed by the BBC, with the full cost of concession due to be passed to the corporation from government in June 2020.

Facing financial pressures and attempting to streamline, the BBC has said previously that shouldering the burden of free licences would "fundamentally change" the broadcaster.

Lord Hall has announced that licence fees will now be linked to Pension Credit and will be means-tested.

"This has not been an easy decision," he said. "Whilst we know that pensioner incomes have improved since 2000, we also know that for some the TV licence is a lot of money.

"I believe we have reached the fairest judgment after weighing up all the different arguments.

"It would not be right simply to abolish all free licences. Equally, it would not be right to maintain it in perpetuity given the very profound impact that would have on many BBC services."

Scrapping the blanket free licence has drawn criticism from campaigners who stressed its importance for the elderly.

Jan Shortt, general secretary of the National Pensioners Convention, Britain's biggest pensioner organisation, said: "In the 21st century, the BBC's suggestion that means-testing is somehow seen as the fairest way of doing things is absolute nonsense.

"All the evidence shows that Pension Credit is massively under-claimed, which means that in the future the very poorest pensioners will now miss out on their TV licence as well.

"There is no doubt that the BBC has done the government's dirty work for it.

"Ever since 2015, when the then chancellor George Osborne forced the broadcaster to take over the funding of the licence fee for the over 75s, they knew that it would end up being cut.

"It was a calculated and cynical move then, and the BBC has just repeated the same mistake again.

"Pensioner poverty is now increasing, loneliness is reaching crisis levels among older people and the BBC has the barefaced cheek to call this fair. It's an absolute disgrace."

SNP MP Hannah Bardell said: "After years of Tory austerity, and the deep financial uncertainty of Brexit, the last thing our older people need is the extra burden of £154.50 to their household bills.

"The UK government must U-turn on their broken manifesto promise and fully fund the TV license for our older people.

"Even more galling, predicating the free TV licence on Pension Credit, which has already been savagely cut by the Tories, is a deeply damaging and a cynical act of betrayal.

"The Tories simply cannot be trusted on delivering for Scotland's older people."