An expert has said that one group is more likely to pay the TV licence fine if they are caught watching live TV or the BBC iPlayer without a TV licence. It is a crime to watch live TV without a licence, and many Brits have received a knock on the door when it has been detected that they have done so. Then, you could land a £1,000 fine as well as a criminal conviction.
But if you evade paying the TV licence while still watching live TV or the BBC iPlayer, then you could end up in big trouble. And one expert has said that one group is more likely to get into a sticky situation when evading the payment.
Thomas Gibbons, a free money and debt advice expert at Money Wellness, said that “roughly three-quarters of those prosecuted are women”.
But this isn’t because women are less likely to pay for their TV licence, he explains. Gibbons revealed: “That’s not because women are more likely to dodge the fee. Women are more likely to be at home when an enforcement officer knocks, and more likely to answer the door and answer the questions honestly, at which point the case is recorded in their name.”
He added: “Women also head most single-parent households, where budgets are stretched thinnest. So the enforcement process falls hardest on women on low incomes, not because they’re more likely to evade the fee, but because of how cases end up in their name.
“Most people assume falling behind on a TV licence works like any other bill, with a few reminder letters, maybe a debt collector eventually.
“It doesn’t. Watching TV without a licence is a criminal offence, and TV Licensing’s response to non-payment is prosecution, not debt collection.”
But if you are struggling to pay your TV licence, there is help you can seek. “TV Licensing’s Simple Payment Plan spreads the cost into smaller amounts, and it’s far better to arrange that than to quietly stop paying,” Gibbons said.