BBC CHIEF SAVAGES TV LICENCE BULLIES
After Mail reveals inspectors’ ruthless tactics
VULNERABLE families risk being picked on by TV licence inspectors, the head of the BBC warned last night.
Tony Hall is demanding ‘urgent reassurance’ after the ruthless tactics of the officials were exposed by the Daily Mail. He said Capita – the outsourcing firm paid £59million a year to collect licence fees – had ‘fallen short of the standards the BBC has a right to expect on behalf of the British public’. The director-general made his remarks in a stinging letter to Capita’s £2.7million-a-year boss Andy Parker. our undercover investigation revealed yesterday that the firm’s agents are each told to catch at least 28 evaders a week – with the lure of £15,000 a year in bonuses.
Staff are told to gather evidence of evasion to drum up court cases.
Vulnerable people targeted in the
past week include a war veteran with dementia. An undercover reporter who was interviewed for a job collecting licence fees was told: ‘We will drive you as hard as we can to get as much as we can out of you because we’re greedy.’
The BBC has ordered an urgent investigation into the findings and in further developments yesterday:
Dozens of victims contacted the Mail to tell of their ordeals at the hands of licence fee agents;
They included a student nurse, a parish councillor and a pensioner living in sheltered accommodation;
Theresa May told ministers to quiz the BBC about the Mail’s probe;
MPs and campaigners accused TV Licensing of being ‘out of control’ and behaving like a ‘doorstep loan shark’.
In his letter to Mr Parker, Lord Hall asked for urgent confirmation from Capita that ‘vulnerable people are not targeted by Enquiry Officers’.
The Mail Investigations Unit yesterday revealed that Capita is overseeing an aggressive incentive scheme for licence fee agents.
An undercover reporter was told by TV Licensing boss Ian Doyle that officers must hit a target called the ‘magic 28’ – referring to the number of evaders they must snare every week. The officials can then claim another £20-£25 for each person they catch over 28. The reporter was encouraged to spy on homes to work out when people come back from work, before trying to take money on the doorstep.
Mr Doyle said: ‘Cash, debit, credit card, we’ll take anything. I tell people I’ll take shirt buttons.’
While all households must have a licence if residents watch or record live TV programmes on any channel or BBC iPlayer, the Mail found vulnerable people have been taken to court unfairly. These included a woman at a refuge fleeing domestic abuse.
Following the Mail’s investigation, Culture Secretary Karen Bradley arranged an urgent meeting with Lord Hall. The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: ‘The licence fee needs to be collected in a fair and reasonable manner. The BBC has quite rightly ordered an urgent investigation into these concerning reports, and ministers will be raising this with the BBC directly.’
Charles Walker, Conservative MP for Broxbourne, told the Mail some of his vulnerable constituents had been targeted and left feeling ‘rattled, upset and bullied’.
He added: ‘If you give Capita any room at all they will get most things wrong. The time has come for the secretary of state to intervene and put an end to these bully boy tactics.’
Andrew Bridgen, Tory MP for North West Leicestershire, said he was contacted by a constituent who was wrongly prosecuted by TV Licensing while he was chronically ill.
He added: ‘The BBC employs complete double standards by producing programmes like Watchdog and then enforcing their licence fee collection with methods more suited to a doorstep loan shark.’
Capita says that it does not target vulnerable people.
‘It says its incentive scheme applies only to sales of licence fees – not the number of people officers interview so they can be taken to court.
A spokesman added: ‘The comments of the individuals in this interview do not reflect the standards we expect and paint a wholly misleading picture of the culture, skills and attitude of TV Licensing’s operation.
‘We are investigating what took place in the interview and have taken appropriate action.’
A BBC spokesman said last night: ‘It’s our policy to only prosecute evaders as a last resort.’
‘End these bully boy tactics’