BBC Loses More Than £1BILLION as Record Number of Families Refuse to Pay

Around 3.6million households simply said they did not want to use the corporation’s services.

That is 300,000 more than the year before and cost the Beeb £617million.

A further 2.9million BBC viewers evaded paying the television tax, depriving the broadcaster of £550million.

The findings are published in a report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee.

It warns that despite enforcement visits to ­unlicensed properties increasing by 50 per cent last year, prosecutions actually fell by 17 per cent.