A TV licence is what gives you the legal right to watch live telly in the UK. You pay money towards the costs of providing BBC content and in return, you get to watch and record live TV. The licence is your proof that you’ve paid that money, which is known as the licence fee.
You must have a TV licence to watch live programmes or record television programmes in the UK. You also need one for watching programmes on BBC iPlayer, even if you’re not watching live. It doesn’t matter if you’re watching on your phone or tablet rather than on a normal telly - the rules are the same.
You only need one TV licence per household, even if you have several television sets or multiple people watching on different devices. But if lots of people are streaming different shows at once, that could put a strain on your internet connection - consider upgrading to a better broadband deal.
It doesn’t matter how often you watch live TV. The licence fee is the same if you watch live shows every day or just once a year, and it’s illegal to watch without one.
If you never watch live telly or anything on iPlayer, you don’t need a TV licence. This means only watching on-demand content on non-BBC platforms.
So it’s fine to use streaming services like Netflix without a TV licence. But be careful if you’re using streaming platforms for regular TV channels, like ITVX. These usually stream live TV as well as on-demand content, so you could break the law if you’re not paying attention.
There is one small exception to the rule that you can’t watch iPlayer without a licence. As part of the BBC’s partnership with Welsh-language broadcaster S4C, you can access S4C programmes on-demand using iPlayer without a licence. But you still need a licence to watch S4C content live, whether that’s on iPlayer or on a television set.
You can’t watch any live television without a TV licence. You also can’t record anything from live telly to watch later.
You can watch programmes on demand from non-BBC channels using the channel’s own streaming service. These include ITVX, Channel 4 Streaming and My5.
You don’t need a licence to watch ITVX on demand, but you do need one if you’re using ITVX to watch shows live.
No, you don’t need a TV licence to watch Netflix because it’s not a live TV channel. It’s fine to use streaming services to watch on-demand content without a TV licence.
If you’re accessing programmes on demand rather than watching live, you don’t need a TV licence to use streaming services. So if you’re watching Stranger Things on Netflix or Frozen on Disney+, you’re covered.
But you do need a TV licence to use streaming services if you’re using them to watch programmes live. It’s fine if you’re using ITVX to watch old episodes of Inspector Morse, but illegal to watch the Lionesses battle it out live on the same platform.
Find out whether you need a TV licence for the most popular streaming services:
A TV licence costs £169.50 a year [1]. But the way you pay affects how much actually goes out of your bank account.
Why are the monthly payments so high? Because you’re effectively paying for a year’s TV licence in your first six months of payments. After that you move to normal monthly payments and stay on them.
So after a year, you’ll have paid for 18 months’ worth of TV licence but have six months’ worth of credit in your account. Your account then stays in credit for the whole time you have a licence. If you cancel your licence, you can apply to get that credit refunded.
Annual and monthly payments are made in advance. But quarterly payments are different because they don’t go out until after you’ve used the licence. You pay for the privilege with a charge of around £1.25 on top of your TV licence payments. That’s an extra fiver a year.
If you are over 75 and either receive Pension Credit or live with someone who does, you can apply for a free TV licence. The government estimates that there are 880,000 households where someone is eligible for Pension Credit but isn’t claiming it [2], so it’s worth checking.
If you live in a care home, supported housing or sheltered accommodation, you could get a big discount on the licence for the telly in your own room or flat. The manager of your accommodation needs to apply for a concessionary licence and fill in everybody’s details. [3] The fee per room or flat with this kind of licence is just £7.50 and it might be included in your accommodation costs. But please don’t assume you’re covered without checking first. You’ll need to have your own licence unless you have proof that they’ve done the paperwork on your behalf.
If you are blind or have severely impaired eyesight, you can apply for 50% off the licence fee. [4] If you live with a blind person it’s worth making them the licence holder for the household to benefit from this discount.
People watching TV on black and white sets also get a discount, paying £57 per year.
If you’re paying the full cost of your TV licence in advance, you can pay by debit or credit card (including over the phone), BACS bank transfer or by sending a cheque/postal order.
If paying upfront or having a monthly direct debit is a problem, you can get a TV licensing payment card for more flexibility. It’s free to apply for one and it lets you pay by text message, through their app or at a PayPoint store.
With a payment card you start by paying £6.50 a week for the first six months, then it goes down to £6.50 a fortnight.
This means you’ve paid for the full cost of the licence in the first six months, so if you keep up with the payments then you’ll be six months in credit by the end of the first year. It’s the same thing if you pay monthly, as we’ve explained above.
No, you can’t watch live TV or record telly programmes without a TV licence. It’s technically a criminal offence to do so. TV Licensing enforces this with home visits. In the year to March 2024, they visited over 1.3 million homes and caught over 58,700 people watching live telly without a licence.[5]
If the authorities have evidence that you’re doing this, they can get a search warrant from a magistrate and enter your home to check the TV equipment. Ultimately you could be facing a fine of up to £1,000. But this is a last resort. TV Licensing would rather work with you on a payment plan than prosecute you.
If your circumstances change so you no longer need a TV licence - for example, if you’re moving in with someone who already has one - you can cancel yours. The easiest way to do this is through the Cancellations and Refunds page on the TV Licensing website.
The website will only accept one of four specific reasons for cancelling your licence:
If you select “moving to a new home” or “moving abroad”, the website won’t let you start the cancellation process until two weeks or less before your move date. This makes it easy to forget at a busy time, so put a note in your calendar to remind you.
Whichever option you choose, you’ll need to dig out the licence itself for the serial number and expiry date.
If you choose the “no longer watch TV” option then TV Licensing should stop sending you letters about it for two years. They will probably still visit your property to check that what you’re telling them is true.
If you choose the option that the licence holder has died and you don’t transfer the licence into the name of another person at the property, they will again still visit to check.
There is no way of cancelling a TV licence that will stop the inspectors visiting your home.
You have no legal obligation to let TV licence inspectors in without a search warrant, but you might want to be helpful and show them that you really don’t have a telly. Their code of conduct prohibits them from harassing you or attempting to enter your home without permission.[6] If you feel like their behaviour falls short of this, you should make a complaint.
If you’re moving house, you can transfer your existing TV licence to your new address at no extra cost. You’ll need the licence number or your customer number.
If you’re moving to a home that’s already covered by a TV licence, you can cancel your current licence. (See above for how.) But do check first that there’s definitely a current licence for your new home and that it covers you. If you’re a lodger with separate living space, you’ll still need your own licence.
[1] TV Licensing, How much does a TV licence cost?, last checked 27 November 2024
[2] Gov.uk, Pension Credit awareness drive as thousands of eligible pensioners yet to claim, August 2024
[3] TV Licensing, Residential care homes and sheltered accommodation
[4] TV Licensing, Blind (severely sight impaired)
[5] TV Licensing, Annual Review 2023/24
[6] TV Licensing, Our Visiting Officers’ Code of Conduct