Slash TV Licence bill to just £29 per year with fully legal method | Personal Finance | Finance

It’s fair to say that the TV Licence is one of the least popular taxes in the UK, along with Inheritance, Council Tax and Income Tax. In fact, there probably aren’t any ‘popular’ taxes, but the TV Licence is constantly derided by a vocal minority.

However, the £174.50 annual cost of having live television access, which pays for BBC programming as well as the cost of the overall television network infrastructure, can be slashed right down to as little as £29 per year fully legally if you fall under the right set of circumstances and make your claim to TV Licensing successfully. Firstly, there’s more than one type of TV Licence. The main one, at £174.50, is a full fat, no-reductions TV Licence that the vast majority of UK households will opt for. Of course, many are happy to pay for it and enjoy live TV from the FA Cup matches to Strictly Come Dancing, EastEnderds and Doctor Who. But it doesn’t mean you should pay more than you need to.

In fact, you can cut your TV Licence bill in half if you’re legally blind. Being legally blind – which doesn’t necessarily mean you’re totally blind, just sight impaired enough to qualify as legally blind – means you can opt for a 50% reduction in your TV Licence costs.

This means that a blind person’s TV Licence could be cut to £87.25 per year, half the amount as normal.

But you can cut this even further if you – or your grandmother or grandfather you’re helping make the claim – have a black and white TV. A black and white TV Licence can be combined with a blind concession. That means it is just £29.25 for the full year, down from £58.50 for a normal black and white licence, and 75% less than a full normal licence.

As of the latest available figures for black and white TVs, there were still 6,500 households in the UK still watching TV on black and white TVs, according to TV Licensing.

It says: “According to the latest figures, London leads the way with 1,311 black and white licences, followed by Birmingham with 323 and Manchester with 245 monochrome licences.

“Over the years the number of black and white licences has declined considerably across the UK. There were 6,586 black and white TV licences in force at the end of September 2019 – a fall of 575 compared to the same time last year. In 2000 this figure stood at 212,000.

“The figures show that despite the rapid growth of smart TVs, smart phones and tablets to access TV content, a surprising number of households still appear to enjoy the nostalgia of monochrome TV sets. They remain popular with collectors, with vintage and portable TV sets regularly traded online.”

To claim a blind concession, you need to provide TV Licensing with a copy of one document such as a CVI (Certificate of Visual Impairment), BD8 Certificate, or a document signed by a local authority confirming you’re blind.

A copy of a certificate from an ophthalmologist, or a tax code from HMRC for blind person’s allowance also counts.

Only one person in any given household needs to be blind for the household to qualify for the 50% reduced licence.

Finally, there is, of course, more than one way to cut your TV Licence to £0. You can either claim Pension Credit and be aged 74 or over, in which case the low-income pensioner would qualify for a free licence for the household, or you can ditch any live TV watching (including via ITVX and Channel 4 online etc) to legally avoid paying the fee.