Leaping to conclusions

Now we have Baroness Morgan's plan for her consultation about de-criminalising non-payment of a tv licence fee. It is a consultation document loaded with presumptions, and light on fact. The consultation is open for eight weeks (last time, eleven), and the Government's response is expected 'in the summer', apparently with a view to making changes from April 2022.

Here's one fact that is included: In 2018, five people were imprisoned for default of payment of the fine, with an average sentence length of 19 days; it is possible that these five cases would have involved other criminal offences that were dealt with at the same time. It is also not unusual for people receiving custodial sentences for unrelated offences to request that outstanding and defaulted fines and other matters are dealt with together. 

Here's a couple more: In 2018, there were 129,446 prosecutions for TV licence evasion, resulting in
121,203 convictions. The vast majority of TV licence evasion cases are dealt with under a very efficient procedure in the Magistrates’ Court – the Single Justice Procedure – taking an average of two minutes each to complete. It is estimated that the majority of Single Justice Procedure cases are listed and completed at the Magistrates’ Court on the same day.

While significant savings in criminal court resources are therefore not anticipated from moving from a criminal justice to a civil justice enforcement scheme, as set out above, the Government nonetheless believes the civil justice system is a more appropriate forum for these cases given the nature of the offence.

Introducing an alternative enforcement scheme will have a direct impact on the justice system, the BBC and TV Licensing, and on government revenue. In addition to likely significant set-up costs, the ongoing cost of enforcement could also be higher, especially given the current procedure for handling TV licence evasion prosecutions is extremely efficient and the reduction in cost to the Magistrates’
Courts will be very small. These changes will have a big impact on the BBC which estimates that moving to a civil enforcement scheme could cost £45 million more in collection cost

Under a civil enforcement scheme, individuals may be required overall to pay more
when facing enforcement action for TV licence evasion than in the current enforcement scheme. Depending on the model chosen, individuals may be liable for court fees for issuing a court claim and enforcing the court order, in addition to other enforcement costs such as fees for private enforcement agents if used. Furthermore the Perry Review said that, approximately to maintain current evasion rates through use of a civil monetary penalty, the BBC would need to set the financial penalty for evasion at a level of £500; significantly higher than the current average fine given for
the offence.

Depending on the type of civil enforcement scheme used, the unpaid debt may be entered onto the Register of Fines, Orders and Judgements, which could have an impact on an individual's ability to obtain credit. It is also likely to lead to the use of enforcement agents (bailiffs) to enforce the debt, which may cause additional anxiety for individuals who may already be vulnerable.