MILLIONS of Brits won’t pay more for their TV licence fee in a rare bit of good news for squeezed household budgets.The government is set to freeze the charge for watching telly for the next two years to cushion the cost of living crisis.
1Everyone who watches telly must pay for a TV licenceCredit: Alamy
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries is expected to announce this week that the charge will be pegged at £159 until 2024.
The TV licence fee usually goes up each year in April and last year went up from £157.50
It was the fifth year in a row the price of a licence increased and back in 2016 it cost £145.50.
The fee is set by the government and has risen in line with inflation every year since 2017 – until now.
Households are now set to avoid a rise in 2022, just as the cost of other bills and essentials are rising, creating a cost of living crisis.
Food prices are rising adding more to grocery bills and energy costs have shot up for households.
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The price cap limiting many energy prices is set to rise in April and experts predict this could add another £600 to average bills.
April will also see millions paying more in National Insurance Contributions (NIC) and council tax bills are set to rise by as much as 5%.
Telly watchers legally have to pay the annual licence fee when they’re watching any live TV or on BBC iPlayer on any device.
If you don’t have one it’s a criminal offence and you could be landed with a fine of £1,000.
But some people may be exempt from paying, saving them £159 a year.
A licence used to be free for all over-75s but that was scrapped last year. Instead it’s now only certain people this age or over who can get an exemption.
Pensioners on low incomes who are entitled to Pension Credit can still get the TV licence for free.
Pension Credit is a benefit designed to boost incomes, but it’s estimated 1million are entitled to it and don’t claim.
That means they many are missing out on the free TV licence and other help too.
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