Television Licences

(asked on 17th June 2026) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will consider the potential merits of extending the period of validity of a declaration of "No License Needed" to TV Licensing, when a person wants to declare that they do not need a TV license, before TV Licensing asks them to renew their declaration.


Answered by
Ian Murray Portrait
Ian Murray
Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This question was answered on 22nd June 2026

The BBC is responsible for the collection and enforcement of the licence fee. The Government is therefore not involved in TV Licensing operations including decisions regarding the period of validity of a ‘No Licence Needed’ declaration. However, the Government expects the BBC to collect the licence fee in an efficient and proportionate manner.

Through the Charter Review, the government is considering options for fairer licence fee collection and enforcement more broadly.

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