The Freedom Pass renewal programme

Freedom Passes are renewed every 5 years. The last major renewal was in
2010 with the passes set to expire on 31 March 2015. More than 910,000
Freedom Pass holders will need to renew their expiring passes (representing
approximately 75% of all existing passes) in response to letters sent to residents over the next 6 weeks

This renewal is different from previous renewals in that:
• We are aiming to maximise the number of renewals made online. This
is different from the previous renewal which was a purely paper-based
exercise with people returning their renewal form by post, over the
counter at a post office, or in certain boroughs at designated
application points. Paper-based renewals will still be available to those
unable to renew online.

Passes issued since the last major renewal have been issued with a
rolling 31 March expiry date (namely 2016, 2018 and 20193 expiry
date. No 2017 expiry dates were issued). Therefore, although
approximately 75% of cards expire in 2015, it will be necessary to 

avoid confusion amongst those users with a later expiry date.

• The renewal will start with a letter sent directly to all those pass holders
with a card expiring in 2015 – this will be undertaken by London Councils’
card contractor directly with letters being sent in batches over a 6 week
period from 3 November to 9 December. The costs of this exercise do
not form part of the budget allocated for publicity.

Notes regarding a publicity campaign
London Councils envisage a publicity campaign will take place from around
November 2014 (to coincide with the direct mailing) to February 2015 with some
activity in March 2015 to act as a final reminder.