The BBC TV licence fee for 2024-2025 is increasing in price this year following a two year freeze period.
This year, the fee for a colour licence will increase to £169.50 up from the previous £159 fee, while a black and white licence costs £57, increasing from £53.50 last year.
According to the TV Licensing website, the government is responsible for setting the level of the licence fee and in December 2023 the Secretary of State announced that the “government would raise the licence fee by 6.7 per cent, in line with inflation, taking effect from April 1 2024.”
They add: “This is a rise of under 3p a day and is the first time the licence fee has increased since April 1 2021. The Government decided that the licence fee would rise annually in line with inflation from April 1 2024 for the remaining four years of the Charter period. The BBC’s current Charter runs until 2027.”
Some people are eligible for discounts, including those who are blind, those living in certain types of residential care and for over 75s receiving Pension Credit.
Money raised from the licence fee pays for BBC shows and services – including TV, radio, the BBC website, podcasts, iPlayer and apps.
There were 24.4 million licences in force in the UK in the year to March 2023 according to the BBC.
The BBC’s total income from the licence fee in 2023 was £3.74billion. This accounts for 65 per cent of the BBC’s total income, which is currently at £5.73billion.
In exchange for licence fee money, the BBC is public service broadcasting which, as noted by its Royal Charter, means its mission is “to act in the public interest” by providing “impartial, high-quality and distinctive” content, which will “inform, educate and entertain” everyone who pays the licence fee (via BBC).
Earlier today (March 26), the BBC’s director general Tim Davie announced that the corporation is set to explore how to reform the licence fee.
Davie said “it is right to ask fundamental questions about its longevity” but added “we should be… cautious about unpicking a multi-genre BBC that leads the market”, describing the BBC as a “precious ecosystem”.
The director general also criticised cuts to the BBC in real terms icy the government, adding: “To strip money from the BBC during this period has been particularly short-sighted” after “below inflationary settlements have chipped away at our income over many years.”
He continued: “When I travel abroad, and see what others aspire to, there is almost universal admiration for what we have achieved. It is so precious, utterly unmatched. Not perfect, but trusted from Belfast to Boston, from Kendal to Kyiv.”
Back in 2022, it was revealed that the licence fee will be abolished in 2027 according to leaked reports from the government.
Culture Secretary at the time Nadine Dorries said the current licence fee funding model would be scrapped and that this announcement related to it “will be the last”.
“The days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors are over,” she said. “Time now to discuss and debate new ways of funding, supporting and selling great British content.”
In 2027, the BBC will have to negotiate for a new funding model with whoever is in power. Replacement options for the licence fee could include a subscription service, semi-privatisation of the network or funding from the government itself.
