Free Television Licences (Hansard, 30 October 2000)

§ Janet Anderson

On the progress of applications, the British Broadcasting Corporation has reported that, by 20 October 2000, TV Licensing had received 3 million applications for free licences. Of these, 220,000 are not yet eligible. All the complete, and accurate, applications made before the 1 October 2000 closing date will result in a licence being issued by early November. People aged 75 or over who are currently beneficiaries of the £5 Accommodation for Residential Care (ARC) licence will receive a free licence when their "scheme" television licence next falls to be renewed.

Of the 2.78 million applications being processed: 2.35 million have been completely processed and accepted as eligible for a free licence. 200,000 people have yet to return requests for additional information regarding their application. Provided the information is returned, the application will be processed and, if eligible, a licence will be issued. 170,000 people have recently returned additional information or made a new application, and the information is still being processed. These will be processed by 1 November 2000. 50,000 people have either been unable to provide a National Insurance number, or the BBC has been unable to verify their information against data provided by the Department of Social Security after a second check. These people have been sent a form to take to their Post Office with proof of their age, after which they will be issued with a free licence, if eligible. Each applicant will be issued a receipt by the Post Office as evidence of their application in the period before they receive a free licence. Where people are unable to prove their age at the Post Office, they will be able to show secondary, alternative evidence to TV Licensing, whose officers will visit the applicant at home if necessary. 11,000 people have been recorded as deceased since making their application.

Applicants who have been asked for further information have been urged to respond quickly, as TV Licensing is unable to proceed further without a reply. Applications which raise problems, such as illegible contact information and current television licences having been cancelled since applying, will be processed as quickly as possible, though this may take until the middle or end of November. The BBC estimates these are about 2 per cent. of the total so far received.

New applications are continuing to be made to the BBC. Accurate and complete applications received between 1 and 31 October 2000 will result in a licence being issued by the 325W end of November. Similarly, applications received between 1 and 30 November 2000 will result in a licence being issued at the end of December.

On the timetable for issuing licences and refunds, the BBC has said that the mailing of the free licences, and any refunds associated with unused portions of a previous licence, started on 23 October 2000. In order to manage the response to the licence mailing, which inevitably includes people telephoning TV Licensing with queries and changes of address, the licences are being mailed in the following volumes:

100,000 on 23 October 2000.
300,000 a day each working day and Saturday after that, until the main volume has been completed.
Daily dependent on volumes thereafter until mid-November.
As required after mid-November.

The licences are being sent out using Manson 2 (the equivalent of 2^nd class post) with Royal Mail, and so will arrive with the applicant between two and four days after posting. The majority of licences will, therefore, reach applicants between 25 October and 6 November 2000. The number of licences still to be sent in November could be as high as 430,000 depending on the level, timeliness and accuracy of the responses from applicants. These will be sent out at an even rate through the remainder of the month.