Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

BBC TV licence fee to rise in April

© Steve Parsons/PA WireThe TV licence fee is set to rise (Steve Parsons/PA Wire)

 

THE TV licence fee will increase to £150.50 from £147 from April 1, the Government has announced.

The annual fee for BBC programming increased for the first time since 2010 in 2017 after the Government said it would rise in line with inflation for five years.

The announcement comes as the corporation faces scrutiny over gender pay inequality.

Director-general Lord Tony Hall recently faced questions from MPs about pay imbalance following evidence from Carrie Gracie, who resigned as the BBC’s China editor over unequal pay.

Jeremy Vine and John Humphrys are among the top talent who have said they are willing to take a pay cut to contribute to closing the gender pay gap at the corporation.

Anyone watching or recording TV programmes as they are shown on TV, or watching or downloading BBC programmes on iPlayer, must have a licence.

The charge applies whether they are using a TV set, computer, or any other equipment.

Licence fee payers will receive a payment plan or a reminder reflecting the new amount when their licence is next due for renewal.

Those buying or renewing a licence after April 1 will pay the new fee while those already buying a licence on an instalment scheme which started before April 1 – such as monthly direct debit or weekly cash payments – will continue to make payments totalling £147 until their licence comes up for renewal.

TV Licensing, the body tasked with collecting the fee, will be advising licence fee payers due to renew in March to pay on time so that they will pay the current rate of £147.

Those buying a new licence before April 1 will also pay the current rate.