Calls for TV licence rethink after 16 people a day in NI taken to court over past year

than 4,000 people in Northern Ireland were brought to court for not paying their TV licence in the past year, it can be revealed.

On average, 16 people are prosecuted here every working day for dodging the £150 fee.

They accounted for one in every nine cases in the Magistrates Court during the 12 months to March this year.

Around a quarter of attempted prosecutions did not result in a conviction.

In July west Belfast grandmother Anne Smith was jailed after not paying a fine imposed for evading the TV licence.

John O’Connell, chief executive of right-wing pressure group the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said the TV licence needed to be reviewed.

“The licence fee is a serious hit on ordinary families’ finances, and those forced by law to pay the bill deserve to know if they are getting good value for their hard-earned money,” he said.

“A new generation of viewers are increasingly switching to

Jailed: Anne Smith streaming platforms, and while the iPlayer does compete in this space, the licence fee is outdated and the BBC should look at longer-term reforms that suit the modern audience.”

TUV leader Jim Allister said he was shocked at the high proportion of TV licence cases.

“This does seem a very high number but if people met their civic responsibility and paid for the service which they use, then it wouldn’t result in so many cases,” he said. However, Mr Allister said wider questions remained about the merit of the TV licence.

“I suspect we would be better with a system where the BBC had to make its own way, just as ITV has to through commercial engagement,” he added. “But as the law stands, the TV licence is there and people have to pay it.

“The numbers coming through the court system do seem very high, though.”

The cost of a TV licence fee increased in April to £150.50.

Failing to buy a licence is a criminal offence and can mean a fine of up to £1,000. The BBC, which uses licence fee revenue to pay for its radio, television and internet services, contracts a body called TV Licensing to administer the system and bring prosecutions.

Court figures obtained by this newspaper show that in the 12 months to March (2017/18), a total of 4,273 people were dealt with in the Magistrates Court here for TV licence evasion.

That is 16 a day, based on the courts’ five-day working week. Some 3,270 of these (76%) were convicted. TV licence evaMORE sion cases accounted for 11% — around one in nine — of the 38,850 people brought to the Magistrates Court in the same 12-month period.

The numbers brought to court for not having a TV licence has fallen from 5,660 in 2015/16 to 4,606 in 2016/17 to 4,273 in 2017/18. But the overall number of people in the Magistrates Court has also fallen in this period, meaning the proportion of TV licence cases in the court system remained largely unchanged.

TV Licensing said: “We do everything we can to help people pay and only prosecute as a last resort when all other options are exhausted.

“The majority of first-time offenders are not prosecuted if they buy a licence within a specified time.”

The way offenders are dealt with is a matter for the courts, it said, adding: “There are many ways to pay, including weekly cash payments. We work with nearly 500 organisations across the UK, including many in Northern Ireland, to offer advice and support.”