BBC nets £16m overcharging for licence

BBC TV Licensing bosses admitted making £16million a year by overcharging struggling families yesterday as they were hauled before MPs following a Daily Mail investigation.

They told the Public Accounts Committee that those who pay in quarterly direct debits are charged a £5 ‘premium’ on top of the annual £145.50 fee. This money, which goes to the corporation, is taken from about 3million people who can’t afford or do not wish to pay the fee in one go.

The admission came at a humiliating appearance before the PAC by bosses at the BBC and Capita, the outsourcing firm paid £59million a year to collect licence fees on behalf of the corporation. The bosses said they were ‘shocked’ about the findings of the Mail investigation last month, which exposed ruthless tactics used by licence fee collection officers. They said two Capita managers had been suspended as a result.

The Mail Investigations Unit revealed how more than 300 TV Licensing officials were each ordered to catch 28 evaders a week under an aggressive incentive scheme.

Capita managers told an undercover reporter to collect cash at people’s front doors and said he could earn bonuses of up to £1,500 a month for taking as many people to court as possible. One TV Licensing manager told the reporter: ‘We will drive you as hard as we can to get as much as we can out of you because we’re greedy.’

Following the Mail’s articles, Theresa May asked ministers to question BBC bosses. Capita chief executive Andy Parker was forced out of his job a few days later.

Yesterday BBC deputy director-general Anne Bulford, who has a £435,000 pay package, and Capita’s group operations and performance director Vic Gysin appeared before the Public Accounts Committee. Mr Gysin said: ‘We were shocked and extremely disappointed by what we saw in the Mail.’

Miss Bulford said there was ‘no evidence’ licence fee collectors disproportionately targeted vulnerable people.

Pipa Doubtfire, head of revenue management for BBC TV Licensing, confirmed there was a ‘premium’ of £5 a year for customers who pay quarterly, earning the BBC about £16million a year.

Capita says prosecution is a last resort and its incentive scheme applies only to sales of licences, not the number of people taken to court. Mr Gysin said Capita’s own investigation after the Mail articles would be completed next month. He added: ‘The results so far do not indicate that this is a systemic issue.’

The licence fee will increase to £147 from Saturday.