IPPR argues for license fee reduction
The BBC should reduce its licence fees for the poorest homes, an influential think tank argues.
The Institute for Public Policy Research says discounts would reduce fee-evasion and increase the Corp’s finances.
The left-leaning think tank argues the over-75s should get a free licence and people registered blind ought to half the GBP116 fee.
Currently, the over-60s or disabled in residential homes pay just ?5.
The IPPR will tell a major conference on BBC charter renewal next month that most of those who do not pay are low earners or single parents.
In a report out in January, the IPPR will say single parents receiving social security benefits (837,000) should be offered half-price licences.
In 2002, over a third of a million 398,000 households were caught without television licences.
An average of 40 women a year, the majority single parents on income support, are put in prison for up to 28 days.
The licence fee, issued to 24 million households, gives the BBC an annual revenue of GBP2.65 billion.
Jamie Cowling, a research fellow at the IPPR, says: “To date, it is our belief that questions around the regressive impact of the licence fee have not been addressed because any discussion in this area is usually led by those who have most to gain from weakening the BBC.
“The irony is, of course, that changes to the methods of collection of the licence fee are not within the gift of the BBC.
It is down to the Government to address the issue.”
