British Broadcasting Corporation Room BC2 A4 Broadcast Centre White City Wood Lane London W12 7TP
Telephone 020 8008 2882 Email xxx@xxx.xx.xx
Information Rights
bbc.co.uk/foi
bbc.co.uk/privacy
Ellie Henman
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx 19 December 2019
Dear Ms Henman
Request for Information – RFI20191919
Thank you for your request to the BBC of 27th November 2019 under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (‘the Act’) seeking the following information:
“I would please like to know how many households cancelled their TV licence between January
2019 and November 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 Havas Media Limited. The BBC is a public
authority in respect of its television licensing functions and retains overall responsibility.
Please be advised the Act gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held
by public authorities; and that we are not required to create new information to respond to a
request, or give a judgement or opinion that is not already recorded.
TV Licensing management information is reported on a monthly basis and comprises data relates
to licences in force where the licence has been cancelled by TV Licensing as a result of payment
failure and by customers themselves. As this does not disaggregate the number of licences solely
cancelled by customers, we do not hold recorded information that enables us to answer your
specific request.
Under our duty to advise and assist you, please note that a monthly breakdown of all cancellations
for the 2018/19 financial year is readily available on the TV Licensing website at
https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/about/foi-licences-facts-and-figures-AB18. These monthly
cancellations figures are consolidated at the end of the financial year and intended to be published
on the TV Licensing website, following the publication of the TV Licensing Annual Review in July
each year.
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
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