Many may be paying for something they don’t need.
With the cost of a full TV licence having risen to £169.50 following an inflation hike in April, it’s a significant addition to your yearly outgoings – making it crucial to check if you really need one.
The licence fee is mandatory for anyone who streams live TV or uses BBC iPlayer, with failure to pay risking a substantial fine.
A survey conducted earlier this year by FCA-regulated credit broker Viva Money revealed that a staggering 43% of UK adults don’t fully grasp what the TV licence entails.
You need a licence by law if you do any of the following:
- watch or record TV on any channel via any TV service (such as Sky, Virgin, Freeview, Freesat)
- watch live programmes on any streaming services, such as ITVX, Channel 4, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Now, Sky Go
- use BBC iPlayer
TV licences cover a house, so you only need one cover all the TVs in your property, unless the property is made up of flats or rooms with separate addresses.
You don’t need a TV licence to watch DVDs or streaming platforms as long as you’re not watching live events. For example, you don’t need a TV licence to watch the Grand Tour on Amazon Prime, but if you start watching live Premier League matches on Prime you do need a licence by law.
TV Licencing explains: “You need to be covered by a TV Licence to watch programmes live on any online TV service – such as ITVX, Channel 4, Amazon Prime Video, Now or Sky Go. You don’t need a TV Licence if you only ever watch on-demand programmes on any TV service apart from BBC iPlayer.”
You can choose to pay your licence in one go every year or in installments such as monthly or quarterly Direct Debits.
However, you can get a TV licence refund if:
- You move to an address which already has a TV Licence
- You move abroad
- You transfer your existing TV Licence to someone else (e.g. when you move out)
- You move into a care home
- You no longer watch ANY live TV on ANY channel, TV service or streaming service (including live content on YouTube and Amazon Prime).
You can apply for a refund if you meet all of the following requirements:
- You won’t need your licence again before it expires,
- You have at least one complete month left on it and
- Your licence expired less than two years ago
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The only exception to this is if you are eligible for an over 75 or blind concession, in which case you apply for a refund any time and for any length of time left on your licence.
You can check if you need a TV licence, how to pay and whether you are eligible for a refund by visiting the TV Licensing website here.
Remember, if you don’t pay the fee, you could potentially land yourself in court and being forced to pay a £1,000 fine, on top of court costs.
