Entertainment
TV Licence six questions that could see you avoid £180 fee
Key Points
TV Licence six questions that could see you avoid £180 fee There's a way to avoid the £180 annual TV Licence fee The cost of a standard UK TV licence costs £180 a year for colour television sets and £60.50 for black and white sets. However, there is a process people can follow which can lead you to avoid paying the fee. According to TV Licensing, if the rules mean you don’t need a licence, you can submit a “No Licence Needed” declaration.
TV Licence six questions that could see you avoid £180 fee
There's a way to avoid the £180 annual TV Licence fee
The cost of a standard UK TV licence costs £180 a year for colour television sets and £60.50 for black and white sets. However, there is a process people can follow which can lead you to avoid paying the fee.
According to TV Licensing, if the rules mean you don’t need a licence, you can submit a “No Licence Needed” declaration. You’ll be asked a series of questions to confirm whether a licence is required, and you’ll need to tick a few boxes to complete the form.
The format is answering in 'yes' or 'no' questions. It asks: "Do you already have a licence?" and "Have you previously told us you don’t need a licence?" If you answer "No" to these, you have to then answer more questions.
However, before doing so, it warns: "If you tell us you don’t need a licence, we may visit you to check. If we then find that you have been watching, recording or streaming programmes illegally, you risk prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000 (£2,000 in Guernsey) plus any legal costs and compensation you may be ordered to pay."
Before you can complete your declaration, TV Licensing needs to make sure you don’t need a licence. It asks the following questions:
- Do you or does anyone in your household ever watch TV on any channel? For example, on ITV, Channel 5, Channel 4, BBC or Dave? we ticked no
- Do you or does anyone in your household ever watch TV on any TV service? For example, on Sky, BT, Virgin Media or Freeview? we ticked no
- Do you or does anyone in your household ever watch TV live on any streaming service? For example, on ITVX, Sky Go, Prime Video, YouTube. we ticked no
- Do you or does anyone in your household ever watch foreign channels on TV or live online, for example, on ZeeTV or Al Jazeera? we ticked no
- Can you confirm that you and your household never watch BBC iPlayer? Watching S4C on demand doesn't require a licence. we ticked yes
- Can you confirm that you and your household never record TV, for example, on Sky, BT, Virgin Media or Freeview? we ticked yes
Assuming you tick the correct boxes like we did above, it should appear with a message that states: "Based on your answers, it looks like you don't need a TV Licence."
Do I need a TV Licence to watch Netflix, Disney and Amazon Prime?
It is worth noting that while YouTube and Prime are mentioned in the questionnaire, you may not need one if you are not watching live TV on these services.
TV Licensing guidance confirms households need a licence to watch live programmes on Netflix. But you do not need a TV Licence to watch Netflix on-demand content.
It adds: "If you are watching a TV programme live on YouTube, you need to be covered by a TV Licence. A licence is not required to view user generated content, clips and videos on YouTube. This includes live streamed content that is not part of a television broadcast. Or being broadcast at the same time by other means."
It also states that you need a licence to watch live programmes on Amazon Prime, but you do not need a TV Licence to watch Amazon Prime on-demand content.
When it comes to Disney+, the guidance says: "You don’t need a TV Licence to watch on-demand programmes on Disney Plus."