Television Licences: Non-payment

(asked on 15th July 2022) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were imprisoned for non-payment of a TV licence, by gender, in each of the last ten years.


Answered by
Sarah Dines Portrait
Sarah Dines
This question was answered on 21st July 2022

The number of people admitted to prison for failing to pay fines in respect of the non-payment of a TV licence in England and Wales, by gender, between 1995 and 2018 can be viewed at the following link:

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2020-03-09/26808

The number of people admitted to prison for failing to pay fines in respect of the non-payment of a TV licence in England and Wales in 2019 was two or fewer (the actual number has not been released in order to protect against personal identification), none of whom were women.

In 2020 and 2021, there were no admissions into prison associated with failing to pay a fine in respect of the non-payment of a TV licence in England and Wales.

The penalty for TV licence evasion is a fine. A person cannot receive a custodial sentence for TV licence evasion but can be committed to prison for wilfully refusing to pay the fine or culpably neglecting to pay. The courts will do everything within their powers to trace those who do not pay and use a variety of means to ensure the recovery of criminal fines and financial penalties. Imprisonment is only pursued as a matter of last resort.

A person cannot receive an additional fine if they do not pay the initial fine for TV licence evasion.

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