The annual cost of a colour TV licence will rise to £180 (€206.88) from 1 April 2026, under the 2022 licence fee settlement which links increases to inflation.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said the change reflects a 3.14% uplift, based on the annualised average CPI measure used for the settlement. The increase adds £5.50 (€6.32) a year, or around 46p a month.
A black and white TV licence will rise to £60.50 (€69.53) for 2026/27.
DCMS said it will continue the Simple Payment Plan to spread the cost through instalments, with free licences remaining available for over-75s on Pension Credit and reduced fees for eligible care home residents and blind people.
The announcement comes as the government continues its Charter Review Green Paper consultation on options for the BBC’s future funding model. The BBC is working on ways to use iPlayer to identify households that are not paying for a TV licence. The proposal would see online BBC accounts linked with home addresses, potentially giving TV Licensing a new dataset to target enforcement activity.
Options currently under consideration by government include introducing differential rates for different types of users, updating the rules on concessions and affordability support while saying it does not plan to remove existing concessions or revisit the over-75s policy.
The BBC collected £3.8bn (€4.38bn) from sales of more than 23 million TV licences in 2024–25, while around £550m (€633m) is estimated to have been lost through evasion.
S4C, which receives its public funding from the licence fee, is expected to receive around £100m (€114.93m) in 2026/27, increasing proportionately with the uplift.
