Kev’s Column: Is Prison For Debt Right?,
Every week I publish my very own “Kev’s Column” online. This week I take a look at the proposal to decriminalise not buying a TV Licence.
It has been a very long time since private creditors could commit their debtors to prison in order to extract what was owed.
The image of Debtors Prisons in eighteenth and nineteenth century literature rightly paint a bleak picture of what this meant for those who had fallen on hard times. It is now believed that prison should be a punishment for crime or not completing an alternative sentence for a crime, not just for failing to pay a bill. That is why I fully support the proposal to decriminalise not paying for a TV Licence.
The TV Licence (which once sat alongside a Radio Licence) is the basis of funding the BBC. Supporters argue that it gives independence to the BBC by securing its own income stream and for its services to exist in the way they do all must contribute. Whilst technology has dramatically changed the way many access BBC services, it is still a criminal offence to watch or record any live TV Broadcast if there is not a valid Licence at the address where you are viewing them.
The UK is, to my knowledge, almost unique in using a method that is effectively a TV Tax to fund its public service broadcaster. Those who refuse to pay, or forget to get a licence, face fines of up to £1,000, as well as the prospect of prison if any fine is not paid.
Ministry of Justice figures indicate that 164,932 people were found Guilty of not having a TV licence in 2012. Is it really right to be criminalising so many people every year just for not paying their contribution towards BBC services?
The cost of a licence fee does not vary in anyway with a student paying as much for their room in a hall of residence as someone else pays for a large multi bedroom property. For some the licence fee is a small bill, for others it is one they have to save up for, should those who struggle be threatened with a Criminal Conviction when they are the ones least likely to be accessing information in other ways?
The BBC, along with Freeview services more generally, thrive on being open to all be it on-line or via free to air broadcast. I want to see this carry on, yet equally I believe it is time to stop branding those who struggle to, or do not, pay the licence fee as criminals. The debate about continuing the Licence Fee is different to whether it should be a criminal or civil offence.
The Civil Courts are best placed to recover unpaid sums of money and there are already wide powers available to Court appointed Bailiffs. I believe this is the right way to deal with those who have not paid a TV Licence, not least in an age where new technology is revolutionising the way we access such information. These changes could soon make the TV Licence itself almost impossible to enforce in a meaningful way, yet that debate is for another day.
If TV Licences are decriminalised then it is also time the Government looked at whether Council Tax should carry on being enforced by the Magistrates Courts. Those who lie, cheat or deceive to avoid paying their taxes should face the Criminal Courts, yet as it stands someone who just cannot pay could be committed to prison for non-payment. Whilst very rare is it right this law still stands? Councils collect other bills via the Civil Courts and adding Council Tax to that would potentially
Prison should be for those who commit serious acts that are criminal offences and for treating the courts with contempt by ignoring other sentences. I believe a criminal record and the threat of prison for debt in the form of not paying a TV Licence should become a thing of the past.