Why are women more likely to be prosecuted for BBC licence fee evasion? The factors as Labour plans change

• Research found that 75% of prosecutions for licence fee evasion were against women.
• BBC conducted a review and found there is “no evidence of direct discrimination by TVL”.
• Labour will reportedly end criminal prosecutions in the name of women.

Labour is reportedly planning a major change to the BBC licence fee, with criminal prosecutions for non-payment set to be axed. It comes after the price rose in 2024 after years of being frozen.

According to reports the move has been agreed by the Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy together with the Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood. And a large part of the reasoning behind this decision is due to the fact that prosecutions disproportionately affect women - and the eye opening figures show that nearly 1,000 people are prosecuted each week.

Figures show that in 2021, 75% of all TV licence prosecutions were against women - according to areport on the website of law firm Leigh Day. Ahead of any changes to the law around licence fee evasion, we decided to take a look at why this is the case.

The current price for the BBC licence fee in 2024 is £169.50, which is an increase of more than £10 compared to the year before. Debates around reforming the licence fee continue to rage across Westminster.

Why are women more likely to be prosecuted over licence fee?

Under the current laws, a TV licence is required in homes and businesses if you are watching or recording live TV (not just BBC channels) and BBC’s catch-up service iPlayer. It is not required if you only watch streaming services like Netflix or Prime Video and other catch-up services like the confusingly named Channel 4 or ITVX.

BBC calls prosecutions a “last resort” in a report from 2023 and revealed that criminal proceedings fell by around 66% in England and Wales from 128,000 people in 2017/18 to 44,000 in 2021/22. However it did admit that there was “gender disparity” in prosecutions for TV licence evasion with around 75% being women.

In the report,which you can read here, it says: “While the review has found many of the factors that contribute to the disparity are outside the BBC’s control, the BBC remains very concerned about the difference in prosecution numbers between men and women.”

The findings state that there is “no evidence of direct discrimination by TVL” however it did highlight the following as factors for the gender disparity:

• household composition, where around 62% of single households are female led than male led, and all other things being equal you might expect about 10% points more women than men to be prosecuted;
• behavioural factors, where women are more likely to be at home, answer the door (61%) and take charge of household bills;
• financial factors, where women on average have lower incomes than men, make up 60% of employees on low pay and 73% of part-time workers and are more likely to be in financial difficulties than men.

Emma Torr, Legal Director at APPEAL said: “This review came about because women, and those in genuine financial difficulty, have been disproportionately bearing the burden of the BBC's enforcement scheme for years. A situation that’s particularly abhorrent during the cost-of-living crisis.”

What will Labour do to fix the issue?

The government is planning to bring an end to criminal prosecutions for licence fee evasion,according to Birmingham Live. A factor in the Labour party’s decision is due to the reason women are, on the whole, disproportionately prosecuted over the issue.

It may take some time for the changes to come into force as it will have to go through Parliament. We will update this article when further announcements are made.

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