Television licensing in the United Kingdom

For people living in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, the television licensing law is extended to their areas by Orders in Council made by agreement with their own governments.

[14] Explaining the change, the ONS said: "in line with the definition of a tax, the licence fee is a compulsory payment which is not paid solely for access to BBC services.

[27] Capita employs a number of subcontractors for part of its TV Licensing operations – one important one being Computer Sciences Corporation which provides and modernises the required IT infrastructure.

[5] Since 2004, Capita has undertaken a proportion of television licensing administration at locations outside of the UK and "has progressively increased the amount of work processed overseas each year".

[60] In January 2012, there were 36,261 colour licences in force in Jersey[61] as compared to 77,480 addresses (residential properties, businesses and other premises) on the TV Licensing database for the island (at the end of December 2011).

[67] In July 2002, the BBC awarded Capita the contract to manage the television licensing system, replacing the Post Office (which had been renamed "Consignia" at this time).

[74] Portable televisions and similar equipment such as laptops and mobile phones powered by internal batteries are covered for use anywhere under a licence held for their owner's residence.

[88] However, TV Licensing later stated that use of any device (including a computer or mobile phone) receiving transmissions at or about the same time as they appear on television requires a licence.

Specifically:[103] People living exclusively in a mobile dwelling such as a touring caravan or a constantly cruising canal boat, who do not have a static address, are not legally able to watch a television as they cannot purchase a licence without one.

Because TV Licensing did not pay the charge, the householder took the claim to the County Court, eventually winning the case and receiving the fee plus other costs incurred.

If an agent has evidence that television is being watched or recorded illegally but is denied entry by the occupants so that they cannot verify the suspicion, then TV Licensing may apply to a magistrate for a search warrant.

[136] Detector vans date from the 1950s, when the Post Office converted Hillman Minx and Morris Oxford estate cars, which had large aerials attached to their roofs.

A 2013 article in the Radio Times reported that a leaked BBC document on the collection of the licence fee "makes no mention of detector vans – but it does contain plenty of other facts and figures".

[146] The BBC states that such technology used in conjunction with targeted advertising acts as a deterrent: its use may make it easier for TV Licensing agents to establish that an offence is likely to be taking place but they would still need to secure further evidence for successful prosecution.

Correspondence between TV Licensing and the affected householder may be attached to the completed application forms which pass via a quality control 'gatekeeper' to the authorising officers (AOs) at the BBC.

[154] The same source also states that "The BBC contracts Capita Business Services Ltd to carry out television licensing enforcement activities, including applying for and executing search warrants."

[157] Data on the number of search warrants executed per year in the whole of the UK are not collated or held centrally by the various judicial bodies of the state.

According to a 2013 TV Licensing briefing document, the level of fines and costs imposed by magistrates' courts vary considerably between different regions of England and Wales.

[23] In North Wales average fines and costs were stated to be £108.90 whilst offenders in the English Midlands area of "Black Country, Staffordshire & West Mercia" were required to pay £197.70.

[183] In 2005, a TV Licensing officer was found guilty of false accounting and perverting the course of justice after he deliberately forged the confessions of four people to obtain commission payments.

"[200] In June 2013, Capita's television licensing enforcement officers visited Guernsey where according to the BBC, they found "130 people illegally watching TV without a licence".

The poll also showed that there is no longer a majority believing that the licence fee assured them of distinctive programming not available elsewhere — which, the newspaper said, had long been one of the arguments for its existence: 41% of the population disagreed with only 30% agreeing.

[213] In March 2020, Press Gazette magazine ran a poll showing that 53% of its readers backed the compulsory licence fee model, while 47% were in favour of scrapping it.

[216] Nonetheless, having surveyed public opinion during December 2003, a finding of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport was that "the way the licence fee is set and collected raised issues about fairness".

Moore had refused to pay in protest at the BBC's unwillingness to dismiss Jonathan Ross in the wake of his involvement in The Russell Brand Show prank telephone calls.

Although the review found that "There is no evidence of any discriminatory enforcement practices on the part of TV Licensing"[228] commentators have highlighted the ongoing factors of poverty, debt and working in the home which combine to make it more likely that women will be charged with this crime than men.

[231] In 2020, in the light of a threatened judicial review the BBC agreed to follow up on the 2017 report and consider the structural sex discrimination which might exist in the scheme leading to this skewed level of prosecutions.

In June 2020, a campaign called "Defund the BBC" was founded by James Yucel, a student at Glasgow University, supported by political commentator and activist Darren Grimes.

[248] During the 2019 general election campaign, then Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government would consider decriminalising non-payment of the television licence, a move which the BBC warned could cost it £200 million a year.

[249] In January 2022, the then Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Nadine Dorries announced plans to terminate the licence after the current charter expires.