Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has declared her intention to end the BBC licence fee, adding that it is time to “discuss new ways of funding and selling great British content”.
Her comments were made on 16th January 2022 in a tweet responding to a Mail on Sunday article which claimed the BBC licence fee will be frozen for the next two years.
The annual payment is expected to be kept at the current rate of £159 until April 2024.
But what exactly has Dorries said and what could replace the BBC licence fee?
Read on for everything you need to know about BBC licence fee changes.
What has Nadine Dorries said about the BBC licence fee?
In a tweet, Dorries wrote: “This licence fee announcement will be the last. The days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors are over.
“Time now to discuss and debate new ways of funding, supporting and selling great British content.”
This licence fee announcement will be the last. The days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors, are over.
— Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorries) January 16, 2022
Time now to discuss and debate new ways of funding, supporting and selling great British content. https://t.co/sXtK25q27H
Will the BBC licence fee be abolished?
Yes, if reported government plans go through. The current annual £159 licence fee is set to stay until 2024, and the government is then said to want to abolish it completely in 2027.
The move comes amid an escalating row over the BBC and allegations of left-wing bias from those on the political right.
Lucy Powell, Labour’s Shadow Culture Secretary, said that Boris Johnson and Dorries appear “hell bent on attacking this great British institution because they don’t like its journalism”.
Jamie Stone, Liberal Democrat Culture spokesman, said the two-year freeze on the fee would amount to a “stealth cut of almost £2bn” and threaten services.
“The government must stop this reckless ideological crusade and back off our BBC,” he added.
Meanwhile, former BBC Chairman Michael Grade said on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme that Dorries has “fired the starting pistol” on the TV licence fee debate.
He added: “£159 a year may not be a lot of money to Gary Lineker, or any of the BBC executives and the commentators, but it’s a heck of a lot of money for the majority of people in this country.”
Why is the BBC licence fee being abolished?
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Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions last week, Conservative MP Peter Bone explained why he was calling for the licence fee to be scrapped.
“In this day and age it’s ridiculous to have a state broadcaster,” he said. “It’s ridiculous that people are forced to pay a fee just because they have a television.
“And what is totally wrong – that people who believe the BBC to be institutionally biased have to subsidise them.”
However, Boris Johnson has been accused by some of targeting the BBC licence fee in a bid to gain popularity as he faces calls to resign following the ‘partygate’ scandal.
Powell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Let’s not pretend that this is anything other than it is, which is a pretty obvious dead cat strategy from the Government to distract from the totally disastrous leadership context that the Prime Minister is facing at the moment. So they want to have an argument about the BBC instead.”
She said of the Mail on Sunday story: “You have to draw your own conclusions about the timing and the placement of that piece.”
Meanwhile, former BBC Executive Professor Tim Luckhurst told LBC: “I don’t question for a second the extent to which there have always been some tensions between the BBC and the current Conservative Party.
“That’s an established reality. But equally it is absolutely plain that this is about the Prime Minister throwing red meat to the backbenches at a time when he himself is in enormous political difficulty for reasons which I have to say have a great deal more to do with Boris Johnson’s own conduct than they have to do with the BBC or any other organisation has done. I don’t think it’s a great way to make a decision, I really don’t.”
What could replace the BBC licence fee?
Dorries indicated that she wanted to find a new funding model for the BBC after the current licence fee funding deal ends in 2027.
While it’s not yet clear what this new model will look like, one option could be a subscription model.
Other potential options could include government funding, taxing streaming platforms such as Netflix, or a German-style charge that would apply to all households rather than just those that watch live TV.
How much does the BBC licence fee cost and what does it pay for?
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The 2021 TV licence fee changed to £159 for a standard colour TV licence and £53.50 for a black and white licence.
This was an increase of £1.50 for colour and 50p for black and white.
The annual payment is set by the government.
Money raised from the licence fee pays for BBC shows and services, including TV, iPlayer, radio, podcasts, the BBC website, and other apps and online services like Bitesize and CBeebies.
Who is exempt from paying the TV licence fee?
TV licences for the over-75s were free from November 2000 until July 2020. However, this was scrapped, with only those who receive pension credit now exempt from paying the fee.
Care home residents may qualify for a £7.50 discount, while blind or severely sight impaired people are entitled to a 50% reduction on a licence fee.
The rule is that if you watch or record live television, you must have a TV licence.
However, you don’t need a TV licence if you only watch on demand programmes on DVD or Blu-ray, or stream them from Netflix, Amazon Prime, Now TV, Hulu, YouTube or similar platforms, unless they stream live TV.
In addition, you don’t need a TV licence to watch content on catch-up TV services such as ITV Hub, My5, All 4, with the exception of BBC’s iPlayer, for which you do need a TV licence.