TV Licensing
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Financial Information
How is TV Licensing funded and what is the cost of collecting the TV Licence fee?
The revenue source for TV Licensing is the TV Licence fee settlement by the Government to the BBC. More information on this is contained in the BBC Annual Report and Accounts and in the TV Licensing Annual Reviews.
The TV Licensing Costs of Collection chart, below, sets out the total licence fee revenue collected and collection costs in 2023/24.
Section 365 of the Communications Act 2003 (opens in a new window) requires the BBC to pay all licence fee revenue it collects (via TV Licensing), less any sums required for making refunds, into the Government’s Consolidated Fund. TV Licensing doesn’t retain any of the licence fee revenue it collects; all monies are passed to the Government, and then the revenue collected is passed back to the BBC as Grant-in-Aid from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (opens in a new window).
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport may retain a proportion of the licence fee revenue for other purposes (refer to the BBC’s Royal Charter and Agreement with Secretary of State).
TV Licensing costs of collection
| 2023/24 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Total | £145.4 million | |
| Licence fee revenue | £3.7 billion | |
| Costs as % of revenue | 4% | |
| Licences in force | 23.9 million | |
Per TV Licence:
| 2023/24 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cost per licence | £6.09 | |
|
Cost per licence as % of licence fee |
3.8% | |
The cost per licence reflects the average cost, per licence depending on the level of enforcement required.
Fines collected for licence fee evasion are not given to the BBC or TV Licensing - they are a matter for the courts.
- What portion of the licence fee revenue is spent on collection costs?
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The cost of collection was £145.4 million in 2023/24. This represents 3.8% of the total licence fee revenue collected (£3.7 billion) in 2023/24. The costs of collection covers call centres, field force, detection and over the counter services, communications including reminders and information campaigns, postage and administration and contract management.
- How much in licence fees do you collect from [X] location?
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Figures on licence fee revenue by area aren’t available, as it isn’t necessary to generate this type of information for the purpose of issuing licences, and licence fee collection and enforcement. Please see the About TV Licensing section for information on licence fee revenue.
- How much TV Licence fee revenue is collected from areas such as Scotland, Wales, North East England, Isle of Man, Jersey, and Guernsey?
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The BBC doesn’t collate information on licence fee revenue by location. For the purposes of administering the television licensing system, licence fee revenue is not configured by geographical location, as the BBC has no reason for doing this. The total licence fee revenue collected in 2023/24 is detailed above.
Further information is published in the BBC’s Annual Report and Accounts. The latest Annual Report (2023/24) is available on the BBC website at - www.bbc.com/annualreport.
Specific advertising costs (including the cost of production and airtime to broadcast trails) is exempt from disclosure under section 43(2) of the FOI Act.
Note: The BBC does not advertise the need to be licensed, the ways to pay and the consequences of non-payment on commercial TV stations. TV trails are shown on BBC channels. Communications shown on BBC channels are referred to as ‘trails’ because the BBC, as a public service broadcaster, does not raise revenue through advertising.
- Are the expenses and pensions of staff engaged by TV Licensing contractors paid from the TV Licence fee?
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‘TV Licensing’ is a trade mark of the BBC and is used under licence by companies contracted by the BBC to administer the collection of television licence fees and enforcement of the television licensing system.
The BBC does not hold the information requested here. It is a matter for each contractor to determine how it chooses to spend the money it receives by way of remuneration from the BBC. Any information that a contractor holds in this regard is not held by them on behalf of the BBC and is therefore exempt from disclosure under section 3(2) of the FOI Act.
- Who audits TV Licensing?
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The National Audit Office (NAO). They review statements from TV Licensing contractors as part of annual independent audits of the BBC.
About us
Freedom of Information Act (FOI)Link for Freedom of Information Act (FOI)
Latest press releases
- TV Licensing assures customers that implementing the new over 75s licence fee concession will be Covid-19 safe
- Thu Jul 09 2020
- Following the BBC Board’s confirmation that the BBC will begin the new scheme covering the over 75s licence fee concession from 1 August this year, TV Licensing is assuring customers that implementation of the new scheme will be Covid-19 safe.
- Thousands of black and white TVs still in use as BBC One in colour hits 50
- Wed 13 Nov 2019
- As BBC One celebrates its 50th anniversary of colour television this week, TV Licensing has revealed that more than 6,500 UK households are still watching TV programmes on black and white TV sets.
- Over 20,000 young people interviewed for watching TV without a TV Licence
- Tue Oct 22 2019
- More than 20,000 young people aged 18 to 25 have been interviewed by TV Licensing Visiting Officers for watching live TV or BBC iPlayer without a valid licence in the last year, according to figures released by TV Licensing.