Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 7
56th Report - BBC Accounts and Trust Statement 2024–25
Published 21 Nov 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee BBC Accounts and Trust Statement 2024-25 All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Potential lost income for the BBC in 2024–25 is estimated to exceed £1.1 billion. Licence fee evasion increased to 12.52%, up from 12.04% in 2023–24, representing up to £550 million in lost revenue. The BBC did not set a target for evasion during this period. In addition, 3.6 million households declared that they do not need a licence, which could equate to as much as £617 million in additional income in 2024–25 if converted to paying households. These declarations have continued to rise, and increased by 0.3 million (10.5%) compared with 2023–24.8 The BBC told us that it has been addressing licence fee evasion through various measures, including visits to unlicensed households and targeted communications. The BBC explained that it changed the reaffirmation period for “no licence needed” declarations from two years to one year, which drove an extra £13 million in revenue for 2024–25. In addition, it said that it improved its website journey and trained agents to ensure that people understand the wide range of licensable activities, such as watching a live overseas channel on YouTube, to prevent inadvertent “no licence needed” declarations.9 6 BBC Group Annual Report and Accounts 2024–25, p. 58, 59, 61 7 BBC Group Annual Report and Accounts 2024–25, p. 62, 64 8 Television Licence Fee Trust Statement for the Year Ending 31 March 2025, 15 July 2025, HC 1182, p. 26, 29 9 Qq 7, 9 7
From: Public Accounts Committee, 56th Report - BBC Accounts and Trust Statement 2024–25 (HC 1230), 21 November 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifty-sixth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 21 January 2026).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifty-sixth report from Session 2024-26
Published 19 January 2026.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The BBC's response agrees with some recommendations, partially agrees with others and disagrees with the recommendation to report on targets for reducing "no-licence needed" declarations and evasion.
- On licence fee collection, the BBC agrees with modernising collection and enforcement for online viewing, but says it is not "currently practical to set a firm timeline".
- It disagrees with reporting progress against targets for "no-licence needed" declarations and evasion, saying "an evasion target is not considered appropriate" and a target for NLNs would not be appropriate.
- On digital licences, the BBC agrees and "will consider the regulatory aspects and practicalities" of making an e-licence the default, with an update in the Licence Fee Trust Statement for 2025/26.
- On commercial returns, the BBC partially agrees, saying it "will ensure" BBC Commercial's overall returns including dividends are published annually in its Annual Report and Accounts, with a target date of 2026.