BBC Licence Fee FROZEN for two years – but households face bigger bills for four more years

THE BBC licence fee will be frozen for two years as the government attempts to support families hit by rocketing living costs.

It means households won’t have to pay more than £159 a year (the current charge of the license fee) until 2024.

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After that though, the following four years will see prices rise in line with inflation.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries announced the decision in parliament today as she revealed the government just “could not justify putting extra pressure on wallets of hard working of households.”

It follows months of talk between ministers and the Beeb.

The organisation has argued for a rise sufficient at least to cover inflation, which is set to hit 4.4% next year.

But struggling households have the rising cost of living to face themselves, with energy bills skyrocketing and other household bills like broadband taking a steep hit too.

The television fee, worth £3.2billion annually to the BBC, went up from £157.50 to £159 last year.

But speaking this afternoon, Nadine Dorries confirmed no further rise will now be considered before 2024.

It’s thought that households can benefit from a halt to rising prices as they’re already battling many other steep charges.

The fee has always been set by the government and has risen in line with inflation every year since 2017.

Tory MPs argue that it should be reduced owing to the success of paid-for streaming services such as Netflix.

But the Beeb has warned it will struggle to meet the rising cost of programming if the fee does not go up at a similar rate.

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk