BBC licence fee cost to increase in April

The cost of the annual television licence fee will increase in spring this year, according to the BBC.

The news comes after the BBC announced plans to scrap hundreds of jobs across its organisation to save money.

The fee is set to increase from £154.50 to £157.50 from April 1.

Just last week Gary Lineker proposed to make the TV licence fee voluntary and be charged at a higher rate to subsidise elderly and poorer viewers.

BBC licence fee set to increase picture: JPI Media

He told The Guardian: "I would make the licence fee voluntary. I’ve always said for a long time, I would make it voluntary. I don’t know the logistics of how it would work."

“You would lose some people, but at the same time you’d up the price a bit. It’s the price of a cup of coffee a week at the moment. If you put it up you could help older people, or those that can’t afford it.”

The highest-paid BBC presenter, who has pledged to take a pay cut as he negotiates a new deal with the BBC, said the licence fee is the corporation's "fundamental problem".

Gary Lineker called for the licence fee to be voluntary, describing it as "a tax" that people are "forced to pay" picture: Supplied

"You're forced to pay it if you want a TV, and therefore it's a tax," Lineker told the Guardian.

"I've always said for a long time, I would make it voluntary. I don't know the logistics of how it would work.

"You would lose some people, but at the same time you'd up the price a bit.

"(The licence fee) is the price of a cup of coffee a week at the moment. If you put it up you could help older people, or those that can't afford it."

Age UK has criticised the price rise of the television licence fee.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: "A £3 a year increase to the TV licence fee may not sound much but will be yet another blow to the hundreds of thousands of over-75s who will struggle to afford a TV licence from June.

"The clock is ticking and, with only a few months to go, the BBC and the Government must urgently sit down and broker a solution to the TV licence debacle.

"Although the poorest older people, those eligible for Pension Credit, would supposedly continue to be entitled to a free TV licence under the BBC's proposed scheme, we know that some two in five of all those eligible don't claim, in which case they and others whose incomes are only just above the line are set to face horrible decisions over whether they can afford to continue to watch TV at all.

"We urge the Government to act swiftly to do the right thing and take back responsibility for this important welfare benefit."

The fee is set by the Government, which announced in 2016 that it would rise in line with inflation for five years from April 2017.

The new cost equates to £3.02 per week - or £13.13 per month, according to the broadcaster. The price change will not currently have an impact on the free over-75s TV licence.

In December, Boris Johnson said he was "looking at" abolishing the licence fee.