How the BBC collects the licence fee and pursues those who have evaded the £157.50 annual sum is being fiercely debated. Some have called for alternative methods similar to Germany and Finland, where those without the ability to pay are exempt. But media scholar Leo Watkins claims that vast sums of money could be wasted if evasion is decriminalised. He also raised concern that heavier penalties would have to be levied against those who are prosecuted to recoup the costs.
The BBC’s 2019/20 Annual Report revealed that 71 percent of its income comes from the licence fee and the remainder from commercial sources.
The rate of evasion, roughly estimated between six and seven percent, was said to have remained “steady” in recent years according to Mr Watkins and costs the corporation 3.6 percent to pursue.
The cost of these cases appearing before the courts was estimated to cost the taxpayer £5million per year in 2013’s Perry Review and around 3.6 percent to the BBC to collect.
In contradiction to claims that the pursuit of licence fee evasion “clogged-up” the courts, the report found cases took up 0.3 percent of the court’s time as many individuals pleaded guilty via post.
Of the 129,446 proceedings brought against individuals, only 8,243 were not convicted, the majority of whom paid the licence fee, which brought an end to proceedings.
Those who were found guilty did not have the offence listed on their criminal record and only five people were imprisoned for not paying court fines in 2018.
The Government receives the proceeds of fines imposed for evasion.
Recently, some members of Boris Johnson’s party have pushed for decriminalisation of licence fee evasion, which would make it a civil offence rather than a criminal one.
But Mr Watkins feared that this could lead to higher fees for evaders, higher costs for the BBC and encourage more people to not pay the licence fee.
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Mr Watkins felt it was “another Conservative attack on BBC funding” and accused it of being “dressed up” as a “sincere concern” about those who struggled to pay.
He cited the BBC’s estimate that it would need “a financial penalty of around £500” to have “the deterrent effect necessary to prevent widespread evasion”.
In 2018, the average fine for licence fee evasion was £176 – although the legal maximum could extend to £1,000.
Mr Watkins added: “Such a penalty would not take into account people’s ability to pay, by definition.
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“The result is that some people would, perversely, end up owing more from a civil penalty than a court fine for evasion.”
He claimed that the BBC could be forced to “authorise bailiffs” to “seize property” for unpaid penalties or debts and that the debt would remain on individuals credit record “for several years”.
Mr Watkins felt that arguments for decriminalisation were “based on false premises and absurd logic”, which could force the BBC to “accept a future of private subscription funding”.
He felt that the myths around decriminalisation “should be exposed and fought” because primary legislation would “soon be up to MP and peers to decide”.
Mr Watkins added: “This situation calls for a high-profile campaign to oppose the measure, as part of a more general effort to reframe the debate on the future funding of public service broadcasting in progressive terms.”
