Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy could block any rise in the BBC licence fee amid the ongoing bias row at Broadcasting House.
The licence fee, which currently stands at £174.50, was expected to rise to around £181 in the coming year, in line with the 3.8 per cent annual level of inflation.
However, according to The Telegraph, Ms Nandy is weighing up whether to block any proposed fee hike. She must decide whether it will rise in line with inflation by February.
The reported cost of licence fee evasion, which is at record levels, is estimated at £550million.
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy, could block any rise in the BBC licence fee amid the ongoing bias row at the corporation
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This is coupled with an additional 3.6 million households opting against paying for the licence because they do not use it – up from 2.4 million in 2021. That is said to cost an additional £617million.
Just last week, Ms Nandy admitted there is “real concern” that “political appointments to the board of the BBC damaged confidence and trust in the BBC’s impartiality”.
“That’s something that we will be looking at as part of the charter review, which sets the terms for the BBC for the next decade, and which this government is about to kick off,” the Culture Secretary added.
In response, Shadow Culture Secretary Nigel Huddleston said that the BBC “needs saving from itself”, adding that there needs to be “institutional change… not just a few people at the top”.
He claimed that he believes there have been “too many examples of bias” at the broadcaster.
While the licence fee has come under severe scrutiny of late, BBC executives are said to see it as the only way they can provide the “universal” service.
The Conservative chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, said the report released on the BBC shows faith in the licence fee system will “ebb away”.
“Our report makes clear that the ground is shifting beneath the BBC’s feet – the traditional enforcement method of household visits is seeing fewer and fewer returns at a time of heightened competition for almost every aspect of the BBC’s activities,” he added.
Tim Davie resigned as BBC’s Director-General earlier in the month, while Deborah Turness left her role as CEO of News
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“Without a modernised approach focused more on online viewing, the broadcaster will see faith in the licence fee system ebb away.”
A BBC spokesman said: “The licence fee needs reform. We are actively exploring all options that can make our funding model fairer, more modern and more sustainable, but we’ve been clear that any reform must safeguard the BBC as a universal public broadcaster.
“TV Licensing works hard to collect the licence fee and enforce the law efficiently, fairly and proportionately and we are audited on this each year.
“The National Audit Office reports that we continue to successfully deliver on these measures.”
The news comes at a difficult time for the broadcaster, that finds itself embroiled in an impartiality row and with turmoil at the top.
Director-General Tim Davie and CEO of News Deborah Turness resigned as a result of criticism about how an episode of Panorama edited a Donald Trump speech.
In an exclusive interview with GB News, the President then vowed to sue the broadcaster for $1billion.
Mr Trump said: “This was so egregious. If you don’t do it, you don’t stop it from happening again with other people. I’d like to find out why they did it.”