BBC Unveils Action Plan To Help Women “In Severe Financial Hardship” Pay Their License Fees
deadline.comThe BBC has unveiled an action plan to help “reduce the number of women in severe financial hardship who are prosecuted for licence fee evasion.” The corporation has been under pressure to help women struggling to pay the £159 ($200) annual fee after a report found 75% of those prosecuted for evasion are female.
The BBC has always stressed that prosecution is a last resort and said around 0.2% of the nation’s 25 million license fee holders were prosecuted last year.
A study from an independent adviser, Lola Young, unveiled today, said the BBC will bring in a two-month breathing space rule on enforcement action for anyone in financial difficulty as long as they agree to free, independent debt advice.
The BBC will also extend the simple payment plan that helps spread the cost of the license fee in small instalments over 12 months to unlicensed households, the action plan said, along with working with debt advice charity StepChange.
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