TV licence fee communications 'too accusatory' says BBC Trust

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 31-Mar-09, 16:00

LONDON - The BBC Trust has called on the BBC management to ensure the tone of licence fee communications is less "accusatory".

The Trust has just published its review of how the licence fee is collected, which drew on feedback from more than 4,000 members of the public.

It said the public clearly feel that the tone of reminder letters is "too harsh". Only 33% felt that licence fee communications matched the stated aim of being "clear and concise, polite but firm".

The Trust wants the BBC management to ensure early reminders meet these requirements but it endorsed the policy of sending a stronger message in later letters.

It is also recommending changes to the way TV Licensing communicates with households without TV sets. It wants it to be easier for these households to notify the BBC that they don't have a TV set, with a corresponding improvement in the tone of letters to them.

Since the BBC took over responsibility for licence fee collection from the Home Office in 1991, the evasion rate has dropped from 12.7% to 5.1%.

The BBC collects the licence fee through TV Licensing, the trading name for a consortium of suppliers including Capita for fieldwork and call centres and the AMV consortium for marketing.