Television licensing in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom and the rest of the British Islands, any household watching or recording television transmissions at the same time they are being broadcast is required by law to hold a television licence. This applies regardless of transmission method, including terrestrial, satellite, cable, and internet streaming. It is also required for the viewing of on demand content on BBC iPlayer. The television licence is the instrument used to raise revenue to fund the BBC and S4C.
Businesses, hospitals, schools and a range of other organisations are also required by law to hold television licences to watch and record live television broadcasts. The licence, originally a radio licence, was introduced in November 1923 using powers under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1904, and cost 10 shillings per annum. The licence was extended to televisions at a cost of £2 in June 1946. The radio part was abolished in February 1971.
Since 1 April 2025, the annual cost has been £174.50 for a colour licence and £58.50 for a black and white licence. Income from the licence is primarily used to fund the television, radio and online services of the BBC. The total income from licence fees was £3.83 billion in 2017–18, of which £655.3 million or 17.1% was provided by the UK Government through concessions for those over the age of 75. Thus, the licence fee made up the bulk of the BBC's total income of £5.0627 billion in 2017–18.
In May 2016, the government's white paper announced that the licence fee would rise with inflation for the first five years of the Charter period, from 1 April 2017.
The number of licences issued peaked at 26.2 million in 2018, and has declined every year since. In March 2024, there were 23.9 million licences, of which 3,600 were monochrome.
In 2000, 212,000 homes in the UK had monochrome TV licences, but by 2019, this had declined significantly to 6,586 licences. In 2025, this figure had decreased further, to 3,600 black and white TV licences.
Operation of the licensing system
Licence fee collection and use
The television licence fee is collected by the BBC and primarily used to fund the radio, television and online services of the BBC itself. Licence fee collection is the responsibility of the BBC's Finance and Business division.Although the money is raised for its own use and collected by the BBC itself, the BBC does not directly use the collected fees. The money received is first paid into the government's Consolidated Fund. It is subsequently included in the 'vote' for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in that year's Appropriation Act, and passed back to the BBC for the running of the BBC's own services. The money also finances programming for S4C and the BBC World Service, and included the running costs of BBC Monitoring at Caversham until it was relocated to London and the property sold in May 2018.
Legal framework
In 1991, the BBC assumed the role of television licensing authority with responsibility for the collection and [|enforcement] of the licence fee.The BBC is authorised by the Communications Act 2003 to collect and enforce the television licence fee. Section 363 of the Act makes it against the law to install or use a television receiver to watch or record any television programmes as they are being broadcast without a television licence. Section 365 of the same Act requires the payment of the television licence fee to the BBC.
The licence fee is formally set by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport by the use of statutory instruments. The relevant statutory instruments are the Communications Regulations 2004 and amendments since that time such as the Communications Regulations 2010. As well as prescribing the fees, the regulations also define "television receiver" for the purposes of the law.
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.
As part of its enforcement regime, the BBC is authorised to carry out surveillance using powers defined by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Order 2001. The BBC is permitted by the order to use surveillance equipment to detect unlicensed use of television receivers.
As the public body responsible for issuing television licences, licensing information held by the BBC is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The BBC withholds some information on licence enforcement using exemptions under the Act; in particular, under section 31, which permits the withholding of information on crime prevention grounds and under section 43, which allows the BBC to retain information judged commercially sensitive.
Reclassification as a tax
In January 2006, the Office for National Statistics changed the classification of the licence fee from a service charge to a tax. 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. A licence is required to receive ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, satellite, or cable". A briefing paper from the House of Commons Library described the licence fee as a hypothecated tax.TV Licensing Management Team
The TV Licence Management Team, which is part of the Finance and Business division of the BBC, oversees the television licensing system. The TV Licence Management Team is based in the BBC buildings at White City Place in London. The majority of television licensing administration and enforcement activities are carried out under contract by private companies. The TV Licence Management Team oversees the performance of the contractors.''TV Licensing'' brand
The BBC pursues its licence fee collection and enforcement under the trading name TV Licensing, but contracts much of the task to commercial organisations. TV Licensing is a trademark of the BBC used under licence by companies contracted by the BBC that administer the television licensing system. Concerning the relationship of the BBC brand with the TV Licensing brand, the BBC's position is stated as: "The TV Licensing brand is separate from the BBC brand. No link between the two brands should be made in customer facing communications, in particular, use of the BBC name and logo". However, it also states that the rules for internal communications and communications with suppliers are different: "the name BBC TV Licensing may also be used within department names or job titles for BBC employees".Television Licensing contractors and subcontractors
Capita
A major contractor is Capita. Capita is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the television licence fee.It is expected that Capita will earn between £1.10bn and £1.55bn from its contract with the BBC if it runs its maximum 15 years from July 2012.
The services carried out by Capita on behalf of the BBC include dealing with television licence queries, processing television licence applications and payments and the maintenance of the licence database. Enforcement tasks include visiting addresses, identifying people watching TV without a licence, taking statements and achieving prosecutions of television licence evaders. TV Licensing debt collection is carried out by Akinika, which is a debt collection agency owned by Capita.
Capita's TV Licensing headquarters is at India Mill, in Darwen, Lancashire. 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. 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". However, Capita has not set up any overseas call centres to carry out television licensing work and it would need the BBC's permission to do so in the future. Some of Capita's television licensing work is carried out in Mumbai, India but after reportage in Panorama about scammers from India, the Indian office of Capita was closed permanently.
Proximity London Limited
Marketing and printing services, including reminder letters and licence distribution, are carried out by Proximity London Limited.Havas Media
Media services are contracted to Havas Media.Other contractors
Other contractors involved in television licensing include PayPoint which provides over-the-counter services in the UK, and the post offices which provide the same services in the Isle of Man and Channel Islands. Also involved are: AMV BBDO which provides advertising services, and Fishburn Communications which carries out public relations.Duration of a television licence
A television licence, once issued, is normally valid for a maximum of 12 months. The period of its validity depends on the exact day of the month it is purchased; this is because television licences always expire at the end of a calendar month. If a licence were to be obtained in September 2014, for example, it would expire on 31 August 2015. Thus the period of validity would vary between 11 and 12 months depending on how early in the month it was bought. If an existing licence is renewed on time, the new licence will last the full 12 months.The BBC sometimes issues 'short dated' licences in situations when a licence is renewed after the expiry date of the previous licence. The BBC does this as it assumes that television was being watched in the interim period between expiry and renewal. Short dated licences are set to expire 12 months after the previous expiry date.
If a television licence is no longer needed for an address, it is possible to cancel a licence and apply for a partial refund. The amount refunded will depend on the time left to the expiry date. Normally only full quarters of unexpired licence period are refunded.
The BBC may also revoke a licence under certain circumstances.