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BBC licence fee: Ministers back plans for decriminalisation BBC licence fee: Ministers back plans for decriminalisation
(35 minutes later)
Plans to decriminalise non-payment of the BBC licence fee have moved a step closer, the BBC understands. Ministers have formally backed plans to make non-payment of the BBC licence fee a civil offence rather than a criminal one, the BBC understands.
Ministers have formally backed plans to make it a civil offence after Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen tabled proposals to give ministers such powers. A senior Downing Street source said Tory MP Andrew Bridgen, who tabled the proposals to decriminalise non-payment in the Commons, had "genuinely changed government thinking on the matter".
A senior Downing Street source said that Mr Bridgen had "genuinely changed government thinking on the matter". There will be a year-long consultation in to how civil penalties could work.
The BBC says decriminalisation could cost £200m through increased evasion.The BBC says decriminalisation could cost £200m through increased evasion.
The proposals will be debated in parliament on Tuesday.
Culture Secretary Maria Miller has previously said "decriminalisation of the licence fee should be on the table" during the BBC's charter review before 2017.
In 2012 about 155,000 people were convicted and fined for not paying the £145.50 fee while there were 180,000 prosecutions.