Epic Misjudgement as BBC Reappoints Capita to TV Licensing Contract

The BBC confirmed today that the Capita Group Plc, current holder of the TV Licensing Operations contract, will be reappointed in that role for another eight years.

The new contract is expected to be worth approximately £560m to Capita and represents savings to the BBC of over £220m over the eight years of the contract. According to the BBC these savings allow more money to be spent on programmes and services.

Zarin Patel, BBC Chief Financial Officer, said: "This contract represents great value for the licence fee payer. Capita’s bid was the best both in terms of innovation and efficiencies and so offered best value for money. The success of recent efforts by the BBC and TV Licensing to encourage people to pay via Direct Debit and use self-serve channels such as the web has enabled us to re-structure the new contract to realise the savings benefits. Additionallly, savings have been achieved by consolidating what were previously two contracts."

Capita has promised to transform the current service, using advances in technology and analytics to increase revenue and reduce costs. Initiatives include continuing to improve TV Licensing’s website to make it easy for people to transact with TV Licensing at a time it best suits them and working to ensure that customers get the most appropriate communication from TV Licensing at the right time.

Paul Pindar, Chief Executive of Capita Group, said: "Through our current contract we have consistently delivered real value to the BBC, helping to drive down evasion and increase revenues collected. We now have an opportunity to build on these achievements and look forward to introducing additional innovation and techniques to deliver a highly customer centric service that creates further value to the BBC and its customers."

The BBC has made a sickening error of judgement here. Capita will continue to demand money with menaces on the doorsteps of the vulnerable and legally unaware with relative impunity. They will continue to send their employees to intimidate the elderly and infirm with legal half-truths. They will continue to exploit a system that rewards them for every licence they sell, regardless of whether or not the purchaser needs it.