Jeremy Clarkson jokes about BBC licence fee

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TV licence fees are compulsory for many more people since the rules changed in 2020. Now the BBC’s grace period for rule breakers is due to come to an end. The National Audit Office estimates the BBC has lost £50 million in the last year alone due to people failing to pay the licence fee. But how much could pensioners be fined and are you at risk?

TV licences have been a highly controversial product for the past few years due to the rising fee and repealing of free TV licences to most over 75s.

The BBC introduced plans to halt free licences to most in that age group, with the exception of those on Pension Credit in June 2020.

Today, the TV licence costs £157.50 a year, or £53 for black and white TV sets.

From August 1 last year, the BBC would only fund a free licence for any household where someone aged over 75 receives pension credit.

Now hundreds of thousands of pensioners face being fined after their entitlement to a free TV licence officially came to an end.

There was a year-long grace period in effect, but as of now this has come to an end.

The BBC will begin charging everyone for a TV licence from Sunday.

Anyone who watches telly without a licence can be fined £1,000 – unless they are exempt.

In a statement, the BBC said: “As we have now reached a situation where over-75s households are in line with the general population, the extended transition period we put in place due to Covid-19 will end on July 31, 2021.

“In line with general policy, anyone who watches or records live TV programmes on any channel, or downloads or watches BBC programmes on BBC iPlayer, must be covered by a valid TV licence.”

When do you need a TV licence?

According to British law, you need to have a TV licence if you:

Watch or record programmes as they’re being shown on TV, on any channel

Watch or stream programmes live on an online TV service (such as ITV Hub, All 4, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Now TV, Sky Go, etc.)

Download or watch any BBC programmes on iPlayer.

These rules apply to any device which you use, including a television, desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone, tablet, games console, digital box or DVD/VHS recorder.

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There are exemptions to the need for a TV licence.

The following are not required to pay for a TV licence:

• People who are aged 75 or over and receive Pension Credit.
• People who are blind (severely sight impaired).
• People who live in qualifying residential care and are disabled or over 60 and retired.
• For businesses that provide units of overnight accommodation, for example, hotels and mobile units.

If you need one of the above conditions, you need to apply for a free licence on the TV licensing website here or call 0300 790 6117.

Can you watch television without a TV licence?

Legally you are entitled to watch programmes made for TV without a licence.

However, you cannot watch or stream live TV without one.

This means, if you watch all programmes on catch-up TV services such as ITV hub, All 4 or My%, you can watch them freely without paying for a TV licence.

Typically you will have to watch adverts during the programmes though.

In addition, you can use on-demand services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney Plus without a TV licence.

You cannot however watch or download any BBC programmes or BBC iPlayer content without a licence.

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