Thousands of Brits snitching on their neighbours for watching TV without a licence

Thousands of ‘licence fee snitches’ have ratted out their neighbour for illegally watching broadcast TV, Metro can reveal.

More than 17,000 reports of snitching on people flouting TV Licensing rules have been submitted to the BBC since November 2023.

Anyone is able to report an address they suspect of illegally watching broadcast TV or BBC iPlayer through a form on the TV Licensing website.

But critics have been labelled the scheme a ‘deeply unhealthy system that turns neighbours into informants’.

Data uncovered by Metro shows that TV Licensing received more than 17,400 reports of people watching the telly without a licence since a new web-based form was introduced in November 2024.

There were more than 8,000 licence fee ‘snitches’ in 2024 and 2025 alone.

These reports can be submitted through a dedicated contact form on the TV Licensing website.

The reports are then recorded by the BBC’s contractor Capita Business Services Ltd, which is the primary TV Licensing contractor responsible for the administration and enforcement of the TV Licence system.

When reports are received, the licensing status of the reported address is checked and if it is found to be unlicensed, a visit from a TV Licensing visiting officer is scheduled.

Watching or recording live TV without a TV Licence could lead to a fine as high as £1,000.

The revelation has sparked renewed debate about the future of the £174.50 BBC Licence Fee, which faced evasion rates of up till 12.5% last year.

The anti-licence fee TaxPayers’ Alliance said the BBC was ‘encouraging snitching’.

Shimeon Lee, policy analyst at the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘This is a deeply unhealthy system that turns neighbours into informants to prop up an outdated and increasingly indefensible licence fee.

‘More than 17,000 reports in just over a year shows how aggressively the BBC’s enforcement regime encourages snitching, rather than winning public support.

‘Enough is enough, the licence fee should be scrapped in its entirety.’

BBC fare evasion is as high as 12.8%, according to the Commons public accounts committee, costing up to £550million.

Enforcers made nearly 2million visits to unlicensed homes in the 2024 to 2025 financial year.

Despite this, prosecutions fell by 17% in the year to December 2024 compared to the year before.

Reform UK’s pledge to abolish the BBC licence

Reform UK, which has pledged to abolish the BBC licence fee, said Metro‘s report on licence fee snitches shows the system was broken.

A spokesperson added: ‘The fact that 17,000 people have reported their neighbours over the TV licence fee is a stark reflection of how broken and divisive this system has become. 

‘Instead of encouraging a culture of informants, the government should be looking at scrapping the compulsory licence fee altogether and moving to a voluntary subscription model.’

The BBC collected around £3.8billion from the television licence fee in the 2024–25 financial year.

However, the number of households that say they have no need for a licence rose to 3.6m.

This cost the BBC up to £617m in lost fees.

The BBC is responsible for collection and enforcement of the licence fee.

In December last year, the government launched a review of the BBC Royal Charter to explore future funding models for the BBC before a new charter is set for January 2028.

Conservative MP Nigel Huddleston, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, warned the BBC risked a continued drop in licence fee revenue.

He said: ‘If you genuinely consume BBC services you should pay your licence fee.

‘But the BBC should focus its efforts on providing valued services that deliver value for money and convert people into enthusiastic supporters of its content and brand. Failure to do so will inevitably lead to further declines in licence fee revenues.’

A TV Licensing spokesperson said: ‘We have a duty to collect the licence fee and enforce the law, and we will always investigate if we are informed that someone may be evading the licence fee. This is what licence fee payers rightly expect from us.

‘Nearly nine in every 10 addresses that need a licence have one, with 23.8m licences in force last year.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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