BBC Opposes Single Justice Procedure Reforms

The BBC has expressed opposition to proposed reforms of the Single Justice Procedure that would see TV Licensing compelled to review mitigation prior to commencement of prosecution.

You can read my earlier thoughts on the SJP in these articles:

• The Single Justice Procedure (general overview);
• Concern Mounts Over the Fairness of the Single Justice Procedure;
• Single Justice Procedure: Urgent Clarification Needed;
• Magistrates' Association Calls for Improvements to Single Justice Procedure.

The BBC, under the guise of TV Licensing, is by far the largest prosecutor of SJP cases.

Under the current system, which I think most people involved in the criminal justice system would agree is flawed, anyone who receives an SJP Notice has to return the completed form direct to the court, instead of passing it back to the prosecutor for final review.

This means the prosecutor never sees any mitigation on the completed SJP Notice and therefore cannot take a view on whether the prosecution should continue in the public interest.

The BBC has suggested that it is "impractical" and "inefficient" for prosecutors to review the completed SJP Notices prior to them being forwarded to the court.

According to the BBC, it already conducts a public interest test based on the information it has about alleged TV licence fee evaders at the time it commences prosecution. In 2024 the Corporation claims to have withdrawn 1,000 prosecutions that didn't make the grade.

The Standard journalist Tristan Kirk has been doing stirling work over the last few years highlighting some of the many inadequacies with the current SJP system. He has published horrific accounts of how the BBC has considered it appropriate to prosecute alleged TV licence evaders who are dying, bereaved and suffering from severe mental health difficulties.

The cynic in me says that it doesn't fit the BBC's agenda for TV Licensing to review each completed SJP Notice, as that might result in an increased number being withdrawn from prosecution. The way the BBC enforces the TV licence is less about carrot and more about stick - e.g. pay up, or else.

TV Licensing enforcement relies very heavily on the (increasingly inaccurate) idea that a high proportion of evaders are caught and prosecuted. The BBC, which is currently losing TV licence revenue hand over fist, would not want anything that detracted from that message.

Of course any Government with the gumption and moral fibre could solve this particular problem at a stroke - decriminalise TV licence evasion.