Question of the Fortnight
Should the BBC use iPlayer to catch licence-fee dodgers?
MPs want it to find a better system than knocking on front doors
For a demonstration of incompetence it’s hard to beat the BBC’s efforts to catch viewers not paying the TV licence.
In the 12 months to April 2025 it increased the number of officers visiting homes from 172 to 229. They made two million visits, an increase of 50 per cent, yet prosecutions have fallen by 17 per cent. The result is the BBC losing over £550 million annually from people evading the licence fee (about three million households).