Weekly TV Licence Payment Cost 2026

What is the Savings Card?

The TV Licensing Savings Card is a physical barcode card linked to your licence account. Once you have one, you can walk into any PayPoint outlet (around 23,000 across the UK, including most local convenience stores) and pay any amount from £1 upwards in cash or by debit card. The amount is credited to your licence account in real time.

The card is the only TV Licensing payment option that does not require a UK bank account or a Direct Debit mandate. This makes it the default route for unbanked households (a small but persistent minority in the UK), for people who prefer cash budgeting, and for those who have had problems with Direct Debit in the past (failed payments, fraud concerns, or bank-account changes).

How weekly payments add up

The Savings Card has no fixed payment schedule. You decide how often to pay and how much. The £3.46/week figure is what you would pay if you wanted to spread the £180 annual fee evenly across 52 weeks. Over a year that produces 52 x £3.46 = £179.92, just 8 pence short of the full fee. The small residual is collected at renewal.

Many users prefer round numbers and pay £5 or £10 a week rather than £3.46. The extra builds up as a credit on your account, ready to offset the next licence year. There is no penalty for over-paying, and no interest is paid on the credit balance. Some users use the Savings Card as a forced-saving mechanism, paying slightly more than required and using the rollover credit to soften the impact of the annual fee uplift each April.

The opposite case is the more common concern: paying less than the annual fee. If your weekly payments leave you short by renewal time, TV Licensing writes to you with the shortfall amount and asks for settlement. You can pay the balance in one payment, or arrange a top-up plan. Significant or repeated shortfalls may lead to a referral to the Simple Payment Plan, which is designed for households in genuine hardship.

Applying for a Savings Card

Apply through the TV Licensing website (search "TV Licensing Savings Card") or by phone on 0300 555 0286. The application asks for your name, address, contact details, and existing licence number if you have one. There is no credit check and no minimum income requirement.

TV Licensing posts the physical card to you within around 10 working days. The card carries a unique barcode tied to your account. When you pay at PayPoint, the cashier scans the barcode, takes your payment in cash or card, and prints a receipt confirming the credit. The amount appears on your licence account within minutes.

Keep the card safe but do not worry excessively about loss. If the card is lost or damaged, TV Licensing will issue a replacement at no cost, normally within a week. The barcode is the only thing that matters; the card itself is just a convenience.

Where to find PayPoint outlets

PayPoint operates a network of around 23,000 outlets across the UK, concentrated in convenience stores, corner shops, newsagents, and some supermarket chains. The PayPoint store locator lets you find your nearest outlet by postcode. Most UK households are within half a mile of a PayPoint location, particularly in urban and suburban areas.

Opening hours vary by outlet. Many local convenience stores operate from early morning to late evening, seven days a week, which gives the Savings Card a clear convenience advantage over postal payment methods (which require post office hours). You do not need to use the same outlet each time; the card works at any PayPoint location.

Savings Card vs Direct Debit: when to choose which

See our full payment options guide for the comparison with quarterly Direct Debit, annual lump sum, and the Simple Payment Plan.

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