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Government could decriminalise non-payment of BBC licence fee

Mandatory Credit: Photo by ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (10706596b) The BBC headquarters in central London, Britain, 09 July 2020. The BBC has announced plans to end free TV licences for the over seventy-fives. Only those elderly people who receive Pension Credit will be exempt from the monthly payment. BBC plans to end free TV licences for over seventy-fives., London, United Kingdom - 09 Jul 2020 - Andy Rain/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

The Government on Thursday night threatened the BBC with the decriminalisation of non-payment of the television licence fee after the broadcaster decided to force millions of elderly people to pay the £157.50 annual charge in three weeks time.

An estimated three million pensioners aged over 75 now face the prospect of having to find a way to pay for the previously free service or risk criminal prosecution.

A further 1.5 million over-75s who receive pension credit will continue to receive the licence fee for free.

Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, said he felt "let down" by the BBC's decision and warned that it would "have an impact" on whether failing to pay the licence fee is downgraded from a criminal offence in the courts.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said he would consider decriminalising non-payment of the BBC licence fee this summer - Leon Neal/Getty Images Europe
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said he would consider decriminalising non-payment of the BBC licence fee this summer - Leon Neal/Getty Images Europe

The charity Age UK said the timing of the BBC's decision – when hundreds of thousands of pensioners are still shielding because of the risk of coronavirus – was "another kick in the teeth during a terrible year".

It said it was worried about the "mental health of older people living on their own" and those for whom "the TV really is their window on the world".

Julian Knight, the chairman of the Commons' digital culture, media and sport committee, said the Government had to decide "quickly" whether to decriminalise non-payment of the licence fee.

He told The Telegraph: "It will be an own goal of epic proportions to start hauling people over 75 in front of the courts. There needs to be common sense here."

Currently, anyone who watches or records live TV or uses iPlayer without a TV licence risks a criminal prosecution and could go to prison.

Nearly 129,000 people were prosecuted for not having a licence in 2018, down slightly on previous years. The Government has been consulting for months on changing the law so that people who do not pay the licence fee will no longer go to jail.

On Thursday, Mr Dowden said: "We are already consulting on decriminalising the licence fee and decisions like this will have an impact on that."

He said he would make a decision "over the course of the summer", adding: "I feel let down that the BBC have not funded this; I am sure that people up and down the country will feel let down that they have not funded it.

"Our [general election] manifesto said we thought they should fund it. I have made that position clear to the BBC, and I have not changed my mind on that."

Boris Johnson's official spokesman said the Prime Minister disagreed with the move, adding: "This is the wrong decision. We recognise the value of free TV licences for over-75s and believe that they should be funded by the BBC."

A BBC spokesman said continuing with a universal free TV licence would cost £745 million a year and "have meant closures of BBC Two, BBC Four, the BBC News Channel, the BBC Scotland channel and Radio 5 Live".

Money raised from the licence fee – £3.7 billion in 2018-19 – accounts for about three-quarters of the corporation's revenues. The free TV licence was introduced in 2000, but the BBC agreed to take on responsibility for funding the scheme as part of the charter agreement hammered out with the Government in 2015.

The BBC first announced the end of the universal entitlement last year, in a move that provoked a swathe of criticism from figures including Dame Helen Mirren and the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Earlier this year, the corporation launched a programme of voluntary redundancies as it attempts to make £125 million in savings – on top of the previous £800 million savings target – due to the virus pandemic.

Dame Helen Mirren has campaigned for free TV licences for the over-75s - Scott Garfitt/PA Wire
Dame Helen Mirren has campaigned for free TV licences for the over-75s - Scott Garfitt/PA Wire

On Thursday night, the BBC chairman, Sir David Clementi, said: "The decision to commence the new scheme in August has not been easy, but implementation of the new scheme will be Covid-19 safe. The BBC could not continue delaying the scheme without impacting on programmes and services.

"Around 1.5 million households could get free TV licences if someone is over 75 and receives pension credit, and 450,000 of them have already applied. And critically it is not the BBC making that judgement about poverty. It is the Government who sets and controls that measure.

"Like most organisations, the BBC is under severe financial pressure due to the pandemic, yet we have continued to put the public first in all our decisions.

"I believe continuing to fund some free TV licences is the fairest decision for the public, as we will be supporting the poorest oldest pensioners without impacting the programmes and services that all audiences love."