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Managing your TV Licence during the Coronavirus epidemic

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Due to the impact of Coronavirus, and following advice from Public Health England, our Contact Centre is currently closed. We're sorry but this means we’re unable to respond to your calls or emails at the moment. There may also be significant delays in responding to letters.

We appreciate that this comes at a very challenging time for many people, and the government advice to help slow the spread of Coronavirus may also affect how you manage your TV Licence. We are working on ways to provide further support.

This page provides answers to some of the questions you may have. And we’ll update it when we have any more information to give you.

Meanwhile there are still lots of ways you can manage your licence online, shown below.


Managing your TV Licence on this website

There are still many services available on our website:

Other questions you may have

I normally pay at a PayPoint but I can't do that at the moment

Don’t worry, if you're self-isolating or your local PayPoint is closed, there are other ways you can make your payment. You can pay using a debit or credit card on our website and using our 24/7 automated telephone service by calling 0300 555 0300 (please have your customer number ready).

I can’t afford to make my next Direct Debit payment - what should I do?

If you need to urgently stop a Direct Debit payment, please cancel the Direct Debit with your bank. This can usually be done online. We’ll be in touch to ask you to set up your Direct Debit again.

I’m struggling to afford to make any payments at the moment

We are currently trying to find ways to help customers who fall behind with their payments due to the impact of Coronavirus.

We’ll update this page when we have some more information to provide.

I need to cancel my TV Licence - how can I do this?

It’s not currently possible to cancel your TV Licence online.

We'll be able to help you when we re-open, but your cancellation and refund (if applicable) will be backdated to the day you requested the cancellation.

If you need to urgently stop a Direct Debit payment, please cancel the Direct Debit with your bank. This can usually be done online. We’ll be in touch to ask you to set up your Direct Debit again.

I need to buy a TV Licence but can’t afford one

We appreciate the challenges that many people face at the moment and are working on ways we can provide further support.

Meanwhile, we offer different ways to spread the cost of a TV Licence.

In addition, for the safety of our customers and staff, we are not visiting addresses at the moment while government measures are in place.

I want to sign up for a TV Licensing payment card

We are sorry but it isn't possible to join our TV Licensing payment card scheme while our contact centre is closed. Please look at our other ways to pay. If it's not possible for you to pay another way, please contact us when we have re-opened.

My university has closed so I am returning home and want to cancel my licence and claim a refund

You will need to complete our refund form online. Please make sure you include the reason why you are claiming a refund. You won’t need to supply evidence to support your claim for a refund.

I own a business which has been forced to close. What do I do?

If you’ll no longer need a TV Licence and you pay by Direct Debit, please cancel it with your bank. We will still write to you asking you to set up your Direct Debit again, but you don't need to do this until your business re-opens.

If you have paid for your licence in full you’ll be able to apply for a refund. There will be a delay to processing refunds but these will be backdated to the date you closed your business.

I’m over 75 and don’t know what I need to do about my free TV Licence

Due to the impact of Coronavirus the BBC has delayed the planned changes to the free over 75 TV Licence. This means you don’t need to do anything right away and your current free licence will be automatically extended. We’ll be writing to all current free over 75 TV Licence holders before the policy changes to let them know what they need to do.

You can find out more about changes to the free TV Licence.

 

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