There is no law that requires a person to pay for a TV licence, only an Act which requires consent. If you don’t consent, you don’t have to pay.
This is not accurate. UK law is made up of Acts of Parliament, and it is illegal to watch or record live TV without paying for a licence.
A post on Facebook, shared more than 11,000 times, claims that there is “no law” that requires someone to pay for a TV licence. This is not true.
The post, which was first published in 2019 but has since been widely reshared, consists of a picture of an envelope which appears to contain a letter from TV Licensing, addressed to the “present occupier” of the property.
A handwritten message on the front that reads: “R.T.S [Return to Sender]. No man/woman or person at property with this name.
“TV Licence is a fraud on the people, there is no law that requires a person to pay this, only an ‘Act’ which requires consent.
“I do not consent [...]”
TV Licensing confirmed to Full Fact that it is against the law to watch or record a TV programme on any channel, stream live content or use BBC iPlayer without a TV licence.
False or misleading claims online have the potential to harm individuals—in this case potentially leading people to unwittingly break the law. As evidenced by the high number of shares on this post, online claims can spread fast and far, and are difficult to contain and correct.
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The claim that an Act requires consent in order to be enforceable is not accurate.
An Act of Parliament is how UK laws are created, or how changes are made to existing law. As the Parliament website states, “an Act is a Bill that has been approved by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords and been given Royal Assent by the Monarch.”
Statute Law in the UK is made up of Acts of Parliament, and laws in the UK are not subject to the “consent” of individuals.
It is against the law to use a TV, computer, laptop, mobile phone or any other device to view or record live television without a TV licence. It is also against the law to download or watch BBC programmes on iPlayer without one.
This is set out in law under the Communications Act 2003 and the Communications (Television Licensing) Regulations 2004.
If you watch television illegally you could be prosecuted and fined up to £1,000.
TV Licensing confirmed that the claims made in the Facebook post are inaccurate, and the laws surrounding TV licensing are enforceable without consent.
A spokesperson told Full Fact: “A TV Licence provides cover for anyone watching or recording a TV programme on any channel; watching live content on streaming services; and using BBC iPlayer.”
TV licences are very common topics of misinformation on social media, and we have written about them many times before—including claims that you can be sent to prison just for being unable to afford to pay the licence and that migrants get a free licence.
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Image courtesy of Nicolas J Leclercq |
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as partly false because the law states that you must pay for a TV licence if you are watching or recording live television.
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