Overview
- Forecasts based on the 3.8% September CPI point to a rise to about £181.15 from April 2026, though the figure is not yet confirmed.
- The fee is currently £174.50, so the expected increase would be roughly £7.
- More than 5,500 people have backed a petition to replace the licence with advertising or a paywall, with a separate drive for free licences for all pensioners topping 15,800 signatures.
- Pensioners aged 75 and over on Pension Credit qualify for a free licence, and the DWP says the credit takes about 16 minutes to claim and is worth over £3,900 a year on average.
- OBR projections suggest the charge could approach £197 by 2029 as the number of licence payers falls to about 21 million.