TV Licence Refund

How to get your TV Licence Refund

Can you get a refund on your TV Licence?

There are certainly conditions in which you are able to get a refund on your TV Licence.

In order to get a TV Licence refund you must apply for one no later than 14 days before the date at which you no longer need it. This 14 day lead time gives TV Licensing enough time to check your account and process any refund.

You may be wondering ‘how does TV Licensing work out refunds?’. The BBC accepts that if you no longer use your licence and have overpaid you will be eligible for e a refund. The criteria the BBC uses are:

1) The date at which your licence was issued
2) the expiry date of the licence
3) When you can show you don’t need it from

Any refund is calculated using the number of unused months and you must have at least one full unused month to be eligible for a refund.

You will therefore be refunded between 1 & 11 months dependant upon the amount of time between your cancellation date and your expiry date. You can check your expiry date here. You will need your name, licence number and postcode.

What does the law say? 🧐

Section 365(3) of the Communications Act 2003 enables the BBC a discretionary power to refund payments. This basically just means that legally it’s at the BBC’s discretion.

How do I get a TV Licence refund?

The easiest way to get a refund from TV Licence is to complete their online form.

You can claim a refund if you won’t need your licence again before it expires (and you have at least one month left on it), or your licence expired less than two years ago.

The exception is if you are over 75 or are visually impaired in which case you can apply for a refund at any time.

Remember, if you are moving home you will need to update your address with TV Licensing.

TV Licence Refund Checklist

As part of your TV Licence refund you may be asked to provide some evidence. Here is a handy checklist to make sure your refund goes ahead correctly:

What evidence would I need to provide for a refund?

You can see the below graphic to give you an idea as to what evidence you may need to provide to TV Licensing.

And once you’ve completed that, your TV Licence refund should be underway. The process could be slicker, but if you follow the guidance above you should have your refund back to you in good time. It’s important to remember that because of COVID-19 there may be a slight delay in processing any refunds.