BREAKING NEWS: Cost of a BBC television licence is to increase by £1.50 to £147 in April, ministers reveal
- TV fee will increase for the first time since 2010, rising by £1.50 next month
- Last year it emerged it would rise with inflation for five years from April 2017
- It comes after investigation exposed underhand tactics used by BBC TV Licence Fee officers
The annual BBC television licence fee will increase to £147 from £145.50 on April 1 this year, the Government has said.
The fee will increase for the first time since 2010, after it was announced last year that it would rise in line with inflation for five years from April 2017.
The revelation of the increase comes after the investigations this week exposed the underhand tactics used by the BBC’s licence fee officers.
A BBC TV Licensing manager told an undercover reporter that officers are incentivised to catch as many ‘evaders’ as possible so they can be taken to court and fined.
More than 300 BBC enforcement officers (Sales) are each ordered to catch 28 ‘evaders’ per week (incentives to lie) – with the most prolific paid bonuses of £15,000 a year.
Vulnerable people targeted include a young mother in a women’s refuge and a war veteran with dementia.
Following the revelations, the BBC’s director general said BBC TV licence collectors had ‘fallen short’, in a letter to Capita’s chief executive Andy Parker.
It was also revealed this week that tens of thousands of people every year are being convicted for not holding a BBC TV Licence in hearings held behind closed doors.
They are being sentenced by magistrates in office rooms with no access for defendants, the public or press.
Lawyers are also not allowed in, even though they can result in people being fined up to £1,000 and getting a criminal record.