MP
(Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport):
The consultation invited views on whether the government
should proceed with the decriminalisation of TV licence
evasion by replacing the criminal sanction with an
alternative civil enforcement scheme. It set out four
criteria against which the issue of decriminalisation would
be considered:
- whether an alternative enforcement scheme is fairer and
more proportionate;
- the cost and difficulty to implement any alternative
scheme;
- the potential impact on licence fee payers,
particularly the most vulnerable and those with protected
characteristics; and
- the overall impact on licence fee collection.
The consultation closed on 1 April 2020 after receiving
154,737 responses from individuals, campaign organisations
and other stakeholders. A summary of the responses is
included in today’s publication.
After carefully considering the responses received, the
government remains concerned that a criminal sanction for
TV licence evasion is increasingly disproportionate and
unfair in a modern public service broadcasting system. The
consultation responses showed that a significant number of
people oppose the criminal sanction with some highlighting
the considerable stress and anxiety it can cause for
individuals, including for the most vulnerable in society,
such as older people.
However, the government recognises that changing the
sanction for TV licence evasion would have wide-ranging
impacts for licence fee payers, including the potential for
significantly higher fines and costs for individuals who
evade the licence fee requirement under a civil regime. The
consultation also highlighted significant impacts in terms
of both the cost and implementation - particularly as the
current system is very efficiently handled in the
Magistrates Court - and challenges posed to the ongoing
collection of the licence fee. The government remains
determined that any future change to the TV licence
sanction or enforcement scheme should not be seen as an
invitation to evade the TV licence requirement, nor should
it privilege the rule-breaking minority over the
rule-abiding majority.
The government’s consultation response, which we publish
today, therefore sets out that the issue of
decriminalisation will remain under active consideration
while more work is undertaken to understand the impact of
alternative enforcement schemes.
In particular, a future decision on decriminalising TV
licence evasion would benefit from consideration in the
context of wider reform to the BBC. The Secretary of State
for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has a roadmap for
reform of the BBC and this provides critical context for
any future decision on decriminalisation.
The government will therefore take forward these
considerations in the broader context of the next licence
fee settlement, which will set the level of the Licence Fee
for a period of at least five years from 2022, and where
negotiations have recently formally begun.
