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Information Rights
bbc.co.uk/foi
bbc.co.uk/privacy
A Willmore
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
23 March 2020
Dear Mr Willmore
Request for Information – RFI20200301
Thank you for your request to the BBC of 24th February 2020 under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 (‘the Act’) seeking the following information:
“Please advise the number of valid black and white television licences in force for each calendar
month of 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.
For your information, 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.
By way of background, TV Licensing reports on the number of TV licences ‘in force’ (LIF) and the
exact number of licences in force varies on a daily basis as people will be buying new licences and
some will terminate payment schemes before full payment has been made. Please see overleaf the
number of monochrome TV licences in force in the UK as at the end of each month in the 2019
calendar year.
Monochrome
TV Licences in
force
January 2019
6,928
February 2019
6,901
March 2019
6,883
April 2019
6,818
May 2019
6,766
June 2019
6,724
July 2019
6,700
August 2019
6,672
September 2019
6,621
October 2019
6,582
November 2019
6,524
December 2019
6,522
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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