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Information Rights
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bbc.co.uk/privacy
D. Hardy
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx 2 July 2019
Dear D. Hardy,
Requests for Information – RFI20190955 and RFI20190956
Thank you for your requests of 4 June 2019 under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the
Act’) seeking the following information. As these pertain to similar subject matter I am providing
you with a combined response.
RFI20190955
“Please supply total number of TV licence cancelations between March 2018 and February 2019
inclusive.”
RFI20190956
“How many people cancelled their tv license in February 2019?”
Please note that “TV Licensing” is a trade mark used by companies contracted by the BBC to
administer the collection of television licence fees and enforcement of the television licensing
system. The majority of the administration of TV Licensing is contracted to Capita Business
Services Ltd (‘Capita’). Over-the-counter services are provided by PayPoint plc (‘PayPoint’) in the
UK, and by the Post Office in the Isle of Man and Channel Islands. Target Group (‘Target’) is the
supplier for the Simple Payment Plan trial. Marketing and printing services are contracted to
Proximity London Ltd. Media services are contracted to Media Planning Limited trading as Havas
Media UK. The BBC is a public authority in respect of its television licensing functions and retains
overall responsibility.
To reiterate my response to your previous request RFI20190684, TV Licensing management
information relates to licences in force where the licence has been cancelled by TV Licensing as a
result of payment failure, and by customers themselves. Therefore these figures cannot be taken
to mean solely the number of licences cancelled by customers during this period.
As advised in my previous response, we intend to publish on the TV Licensing website information
on the number of licences in force cancelled each month during the 2018/19 financial year (April
2018 to March 2019); and we consider the monthly cancellations data in this time period is
exempt from disclosure under section 22(1)(a) of the Act; which relates to information which is
intended for future publication (specifically, that the information is held with a view to its being
published by the BBC at a future date). I note that the BBC’s subsequent Internal Review Decision
IR2019023 upheld this position.
Since you have already been supplied with the cancellations data for March 2018, I consider the
remainder of the information you are seeking in your new requests RFI20190955 and
RFI20190956 i.e. monthly cancellations data for the period April 2018 to February 2019 remains
exempt on the same grounds.
In line with our duty to advise and assist you, I can tell you that prior to the decision to publish
2018/19 financial year cancellations data on the TV Licensing website, we had previously released
the February 2019 figure in response to another preceding request under the Act. Since this
information is in the public domain, I am happy to provide it below.
Month
Cancellations1
February 2019
73,991
Appeal Rights
If you are not satisfied that we have complied with the Act in responding to your request, you
have the right to an internal review by a BBC senior manager or legal adviser. Please contact us at
the address above, explaining what you would like us to review and including your reference
number. A request for an internal review must be made within 40 working days of receiving the
BBC’s response to your original request.
If you are not satisfied with the internal review, you can appeal to the Information Commissioner.
The contact details are: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, Tel: 0303 123 1113 or s
ee https://ico.org.uk/. Yours sincerely
Rupinder Panesar
Freedom of Information Advisor, TV Licensing Management Team
1 Our routine information terms some cancellations as expired, depending on the circumstances of the cancellation,
and these are not reported as cancelled licences. This information above relates to licences in force where the licence
has been cancelled by TV Licensing as a result of payment failure, and by customers themselves. Therefore these
figures cannot be taken to mean solely the number of licences cancelled by customers during this period.
Please also
note that these figures do not include licences cancelled for customers aged 74 when they turn 75 because these fall
within the Over 75 free licences category.
2
