Failure to buy a BBC TV licence will be decriminalised and replaced with fines enforced in the civil courts and by bailiffs under government plans.
Ministers are expected to announce the change as soon as next month with non-payment being treated as a “civil debt” in the same way it is for people who do not pay their utility bills.
The BBC will be entitled to pursue non-payers through county courts and use bailiffs to collect fines. Failure to pay will also affect credit ratings.
A government source said that decriminalising the licence fee was a “done deal” but added that there was a debate about how to replace it.
“We have to be careful that what we replace the licence fee with isn’t worse than what we have,” the source said. “We’re talking about higher fines, using bailiffs and damaging people’s credit ratings. We need to tread carefully.”
Boris Johnson has offered two of the most senior broadcasting jobs to outspoken critics of the BBC. The former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre is the prime minister’s choice to become chairman of Ofcom, the broadcasting and telecoms regulator.
The former editor of The Daily Telegraph Lord Moore of Etchingham, who previously refused to pay the licence fee, has been asked to be BBC chairman.
The plans to decriminalise the licence fee will be outlined by ministers in response to a consultation. Details of the replacement scheme will need further consultation and the passing of a bill in parliament before they come into law.
There are concerns that penalties could prove more expensive than the present average of £176 for licence fee evasion. It has previously been suggested that a £500 fine would be needed as a deterrent. A total of 129,446 people in England were prosecuted for not having a licence in 2018, but only five were jailed.
In its submission to the consultation, the BBC said that civil enforcement would allow items to be “sold by a bailiff”. It added: “Action taken by bailiffs is by its very nature intrusive . . . TV Licensing does not use them to recover arrears.”