UK households will have to pay more for a TV Licence from April when new bill changes take effect. The government has confirmed that the annual BBC licence fee will increase by £5 from April 1, rising from £169.90 per year to £174.50, adding an extra 42p per month to bills. For a black and white TV, the fee will go up by £1.50, rising from £57 per year to £58.50.
Labour has confirmed that the annual licence fee will increase in line with the annual consumer price index (CPI) inflation rate each year until 2027. Rules state that any household that watches or records live TV on any channel or service, or watches content on BBC iPlayer, is legally required to have a TV Licence. The TV Licence allows you to watch a broad spectrum of TV, including all TV channels (like BBC, ITV and Channel 4), pay TV services (like Sky, Virgin Media and EE TV), live TV on streaming services (like YouTube, Amazon Prime and Freely), and everything on BBC iPlayer. This includes watching, recording and downloading TV content on any device. But it is possible to get a TV Licence for free, or at a discounted rate, in some cases, allowing you to avoid the upcoming April price hike.
Who qualifies for a free TV Licence?
You can get a free TV Licence if you are aged 75 or over and you, or your partner living at the same address, receive Pension Credit. The free licence will cover everyone living at your address.
If you already get Pension Credit you can apply for a free TV Licence when you’re 74, but you’ll need to continue paying for your licence until the end of the month before your 75th birthday. After this, you will be covered by your free licence.
You must live in England, Scotland or Wales and have reached State Pension age to qualify for Pension Credit, which provides extra cash for those on a low income to help with living costs.
For those who qualify, the benefit tops up your weekly income to £218.15 if you’re single, or your joint weekly income to £332.95, and it also unlocks a wealth of other benefits – including a free TV Licence.
Pension Credit rates will increase by 4.1% in April, taking single people’s weekly payments rising to £227.10 and those with a partner to £346.60.
Who qualifies for a reduced fee TV Licence?
If you live in a residential care home, supported housing or sheltered accommodation, then you may be entitled to a reduced fee TV Licence.
If you are blind (severely sight impaired) and can provide the appropriate evidence, you can apply for a 50% discount on your TV Licence.
If neither of these apply then you’ll have to pay for a TV Licence at the full rate.
Other ways to cut your TV Licence bill
If you don’t meet the eligibility criteria for Pension Credit, or qualify for a reduced fee TV Licence, there are other ways to reduce your TV Licence bill, or avoid it altogether.
TV Licences are per household, not per person, so if you live in a house with several people you don’t all need to have one in some cases and could all chip in to share the cost of one licence.
You can share a TV Licence among the whole household if you watch TV in a single shared area, or have a joint tenancy agreement. But if you have separate tenancy agreements and watch TV in your own room then you will need to pay for your own.
You also don’t need a TV Licence to watch streaming services, such as Netflix and Disney Plus, on-demand TV through services like All 4 and Amazon Prime Video, videos on websites such as YouTube, or DVDs and Blurays.
So if you’re happy to just stick to watching any of these, and not watch or record any live TV or BBC iPlayer, you can save yourself £174.50. But if you do watch or record live TV without a TV Licence then you can be issued a fine of up to £1,000.