UK TV Licence

For those people who are moving to London, particularly from overseas, you may not be aware that in the UK, it is necessary to purchase a licence in order to watch television. This licence is required to fund radio, internet and television services that are provided by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). The BBC relies on this fee unlike most other TV channels that require advert breaks in the middle of programmes to fund their channels.

At the moment, the current annual cost of the TV licence is £142.50 for a colour TV and £48 for a black and white TV (if anyone still watches a black and white set). Now, the most important thing to remember is that not watching TV through a TV set, does not mean that you’re exempt from paying the fee. If you watch broadcasted TV on a laptop, computer, mobile phone or DVD/VCR recorder, then you’re still required to cough up. If you’re registered as being blind or severely sight impaired, then you might be eligible for a 50% discount.

If you think that you can get out of paying, and beat the system, then you’d be very foolish. A national database with over 30 million addresses knows whether or not your property has a current, valid licence. Those properties that haven’t paid should expect to be visited by enforcement officers, sometimes in person, but often in a parked van outside your property. These detector vans contain equipment that can pick up the use of TV receiving equipment at specifically targeted addresses within 20 seconds. The penalty for getting caught watching TV without a valid licence is being prosecuted, appearing in court and paying a fine of up to £1,000, not including legal costs.

The good news is that there are loads of different methods of paying your TV licence, whether you pay it upfront or on a payment plan set up by TV licensing.

You can pay the amount in full by cheque, postal order, BACS transfer or debit/credit card over the phone or Internet.

If you want to stagger the payment, then there are a range of options available.

Direct Debit – there are 3 payment options if you want to pay by Direct debit, some are more complicated than others.

• If you want to pay annually, then £142.50 will be debited once a year from your account.
• If you want to pay quarterly, you’ll pay around £37 every 3 months, which includes a small premium/admin fee of £1.25 per quarter.
• If you want to pay monthly, it’s slightly more confusing. You’ll pay £24 a month for 6 months, this will cover your first year’s licence, then in the 7^th month you’ll start paying towards your future year’s licence at a rate of £12 per month, which will continue for future licences.

There are also the TV Licensing savings and payment cards. A payment card allows you to spread the cost of your licence – you can pay as little as £5.50 per week. Savings cards are for those that already have a TV licence and want to start saving for a future licence. Both cards can be operated at PayPoint outlets (usually found in newsagents, petrol stations and supermarkets) which there are over 20,000 of in the UK.

It’s extremely important to be aware of a couple of factors surrounding your TV licence.

Firstly, if you move home, then you need to update your licence by changing your address details with TV Licensing. You can do this online. Your licence covers you at a specific address, rather than you as a person.

Also people living in shared houses should know that if your name is on a joint tenancy agreement, then you should only need 1 licence per household. However, if you have a separate tenancy agreement based on just your room, which is particularly applicable when living in halls of residences, or long-term hostel accommdation, then you’ll need a TV licence just for your room. Communal areas should be covered under a separate licence paid by the Student Halls/hostel. If in any doubt whatsoever, then please contact TV licensing for more details.