UK households £174 better off with little-known TV licence rule

UK households can save £174 per year with a little-known TV licence rule that will slash your bill to £0.

The BBC licence fee is increasing in 2025, rising from the current £169.50 to £174.50 from April, meaning households will pay an extra £5 per year. But thousands of households are actually eligible for a free TV licence but aren’t claiming it.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has warned that around 880,000 people who are eligible for Pension Credit are missing out on it – and this benefit serves as a gateway to a vast array of other support.

Claimants can not only get help with housing costs, Council Tax discounts, NHS treatment costs and a Winter Fuel Payment, but it also entitles them to a free TV licence, if you’re aged 75 and over.

So submitting a Pension Credit claim will not only grant you around £3,900 worth of support per year from the DWP, you’ll also be able to save £174.50 by cutting your TV licence bill to £0.

To be eligible for Pension Credit you must live in England, Scotland or Wales and have reached State Pension age. The benefit tops up your weekly income to £218.15 if you’re single, or your joint weekly income to £332.95 if you have a partner.

If you don’t meet the eligibility criteria for Pension Credit there are other ways to reduce the cost of your TV licence bill, or avoid it altogether.

TV licences are per household, not per person, so if you live in a house with several people you don’t all need to have one in some cases and could all chip in to share the cost of one licence.

You can share a TV licence among the whole household if you watch TV in a single shared area, or have a joint tenancy agreement. But if you have separate tenancy agreements and watch TV in your own room then you will need to pay for your own.

You also don’t need a TV licence to watch streaming services, such as Netflix and Disney Plus, on-demand TV through services like All 4 and Amazon Prime Video, videos on websites such as YouTube, or DVDs and Blurays.

So if you’re happy to just stick to watching any of these, and not watch or record any live TV or BBC iPlayer, you can save yourself £174.50. But if you do watch or record live TV without a valid TV licence then you can be issued a fine of up to £1,000.