Most of us have no choice when paying Council Tax – but there are ways to make sure you aren’t paying too much.
Along with everything else, my Council Tax bill has gone up. For my council, it’s up by 3.6%, which works out as an extra £96 a year.
On its own, this £8 a month increase isn’t too bad. But this isn’t the only increase in costs, and when you add them all together, close to £100 here will make a difference.
Though I’ll be able to afford it, I know not everyone will – and some might have seen larger increases. Many councils have voted to increase by the maximum 4.99% that’s allowed, and few others have been forced by financial issues to trigger referendums for even larger hikes.
So I thought it was a good opportunity to share with you ways you might be able to pay less, or at least make how you pay work better for you.
What is Council Tax?
Your Council Tax largely pays for local services, so the amount you pay is set each year by your local council. It varies all over the country.
Some of the money will also go towards funding social care as well as police and fire services in your area.
There are eight ‘bands’ of council tax, all based upon the approximate value of the property in 1991. A is the lowest, H the highest.
You can get cashback from Santander
There are two current accounts you can open which help you save on your Council Tax bill. Though these current accounts have fees, you generally make the money back on cashback from bills, including Council Tax as long as it’s paid by Direct Debit.
The Santander Edge and Edge Up current account will give you 1% cashback on your Council Tax. The money is returned to your account along with cashback on other bills, such as energy, broadband and water. However you will pay a monthly fee.
If you already have the Santander 123 or 123 Lite accounts (now closed to new customers), then that has a lower monthly fee. You can read my comparison of the four accounts to see which I think is best.
To be fair, most of you won’t be able to cut the monthly rate unless you fit one of these exceptions:
Living alone? In which case you’re able to get a 25% discount on the rate. If you’re the only adult but have children under 18 or not in education, then you qualify for the discount too as a sole adult
Students pay nothing if they’re in full-time education
If you are unemployed or meet other conditions, it’s possible to claim Council Tax Reduction payments, which could be as much as 100%
Got a second home? You might be able to get a discount too. It’s up to the local council, but if it’s furnished it’s possible to get up to 50%. If it’s empty for two years or more, they can charge more
If someone has passed away, there is no charge for six months
Disabled people who need a bigger house to accommodate space for wheelchairs or extra bathrooms can get their band reduced down a level for example they’d pay C rates on a D property
Adults who are medically classed as having a severe mental impairment will get 100% discounted if they live alone or with others who don’t pay, 50% if you live with a carer only, and 25% if you live with just another adult
Live in carers can get a 25% to 50% discount if they meet the conditions
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You can check to see if you’re paying too much
Use this government site (or this one in Scotland) to see what band houses around you are in. If it looks like houses around you are less, it might be worth appealing. The StreetCheck website is good to find out neighbouring postcodes.
You can also see what neighbouring houses are valued at, to help get a sense of whether yours is worth more or less. Zoopla is good for this. You’ll ideally want to see valuations from 1991 as changes could have taken place since then.
If both look good, you can try to appeal. If successful you’ll not only get a discount going forward, but also backdated payments.
Be aware though that the council could also choose to raise your band – and how much you pay (and for any neighbours who are also then found to be underpaying).
I’ve taken a look and most of the nearby houses are all on the same band, so it’s unlikely I’d be able to get it changed to a lower band.
You can pay Council Tax over 12 months if you’d prefer
Most Council Tax bills are set to be repaid over 10 months, meaning you don’t pay anything in February and March. For some this break gives a little breather after Christmas to pay off extra expenses.
I choose to spread the cost over 12 months instead of 10, so I know exactly what I’m paying each month. You need to ask your council to change this if you want to do the same.
One feature that’s also available is getting cashback on the bills you pay. So you could get 1% back on your Council Tax or water bills. It’s stuff we all pretty much pay for.
Since this type of account was introduced I’ve always said it makes sense for us to all have one of these current accounts – all offered by Santander.
If you’re looking to open a new account you can choose between the Edge or the Edge Up, while some of you might still have the 123 or 123 Lite.
So which is better? This article will help you decide on the best paying option for you.
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Santander cashback current accounts compared
First a look at what these accounts offer. The focus of this article is on the cashback on bills, but as you’ll see some of them offer extra ways to earn money.
Available to all customers
Santander Edge
The Edge doesn’t just offer cashback on bills as you can get money back on some spending and a decent interest rate.
I wouldn’t bother with the debit card cashback as you can earn the same rate elsewhere without the caps and retailer restrictions. The interest could be worth grabbing – as long as you’re covering the fee with your cashback.
The Edge Saver is unbeatable for the first year – though you do need to factor in the fee if that’s not covered by cashback Here’s more on the Edge Saver account (full review)
7% (including 2.5% bonus for 12 months) on balances up to £4,000 via a separate Edge Saver account
Cashback (capped at £10 per tier each month)
1% on Council Tax, phone, mobile, TV and broadband, gas and electricity, and water bills
1% back on spending at supermarkets and on travel (trains, buses & fuel)
Requirements
Pay in £500 a month
Pay out at least two Direct Debits
Santander Edge Up
The Edge Up keeps the same cashback rates, but increases the monthly cap to £15 a month. On
There’s no access to the Edge Saver. Instead you can earn 3.5% interest in the account on a hefty balance, but that can be beaten by savings rates at other banks.
1% on Council Tax, phone, mobile, TV and broadband, gas and electricity, and water bills
1% back on spending at supermarkets and on travel (trains, buses & fuel)
Requirements
Pay in £1,500 a month
Pay out at least two Direct Debits
Only available to existing customers
Santander 123
The Santander 123 current account is no longer available to new customers, but if you’ve already got one it’ll still earn you money back on your bills.
The 123 pays more cashback on some bills than the Edge, and you can earn money on Santander mortgages too. However, it comes with a higher fee and lower interest rates. I wouldn’t use this at all for interest as the rate can be easily beaten elsewhere.
Monthly Fee
£4
Interest %
2% on balances up to £20,000
Cashback (capped at £5 per tier each month)
1% on Council Tax, phone, mobile, TV and broadband bills and Santander mortgage repayments
2% on gas and electricity
3% on water bills
Requirements
Pay in £500 a month
Pay out at least two Direct Debits
Santander 123 Lite
This account is no longer available to new customers, but if you’ve already got one it’ll still earn you money back on your bills and with the lowest fee of the lot, so you need to know what it offers in comparison to the others.
Monthly Fee
£2
Interest %
None
Cashback (capped at £5 per tier each month)
1% on Council Tax, phone, mobile, TV and broadband bills and Santander mortgage repayments
2% on gas and electricity
3% on water bills
Requirements
Pay in £500 a month
Pay out at least two Direct Debits
Sign in to your online or app banking every three months
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Obviously there’s the chance to earn more from the 123 and 123 Lite due to the higher paying rates on gas, electricity and water. Plus if you have a Santander mortgage there’s extra you can earn there too.
However all three accounts have caps. For the 123 and 123 Lite it’s £5 cap per category, so the most you can possibly make each month is £15 – though for most homes that’s unlikely. The Edge caps bill cashback at £10 a month.
To work out how much you’ll make personally you’ll need to get your bills and put them into the cashback calculators on the Santander websites. Don’t forget to factor in the monthly fee, which will show in the calculator.
Santander cashback calculators
You can use a calculator on the Santander website to work out your return from both the Edge and Edge Up. It’s possible to also compare how much you’ll make to either the 123 or 123 Lite.
You’ll find this in the “Cashback” section when you click the arrow to expand. This calculator also has the option to work out how much you’d earn from debit card cashback and interest on savings, but I’d leave this blank unless you really don’t want to get better rates elsewhere.
A quick note: For Council Tax the cashback is calculated as if you pay it over 10 months rather than 12. Though the former is the default way I’ve always preferred the consistency of every month. If you pay by 12 months then you’ll need to multiply the amount you pay by 12, then divide by 10, and put that figure in the calculator. This applies to all three accounts.
Though the categories of cashback are quite broad and cover lots of bills, not every supplier will be included. For example, Giffgaff doesn’t appear in the eligible supplier search form. Do check how your supplier appears on your bank statement as that might be what’s listed.
Also, if you split bills with a partner or housemate and you pay from separate accounts then you won’t get the full benefit of this type of account. You could open up a joint account for these key bills, though there are risks you need to be aware of.
What I’d make in cashback on bills
Which account would be best for me?
If you’re a regular reader you won’t be surprised to know I’ve got as good a deal as possible on all my bills. I switch energy provider frequently (well, I did when this was possible) and ditched pay TV years ago. Plus I’ve haggled low prices on broadband and mobile phones.
Our water is on a meter and my Council Tax is quite high, but there’s not a huge amount we can do to reduce these further.
Bill
My monthly cost
123 Lite monthly cashback
123monthly cashback
Edge monthly cashback
Edge Up monthly cashback
Council Tax
£228
£2.28
£2.28
£2.28
£2.28
Broadband
£28
£0.28
£0.28
£0.28
£0.28
Mobile Phones (x2)
£16
£0.16
£0.16
£0.16
£0.16
Gas & Electricity
£250
£5
£5
£2.50
£2.50
Water
£40
£1.20
£1.20
£0.40
£0.40
Monthly fee
-£2
-£4
-£3
-£5
MONTHLYTOTAL
£6.92
£4.92
£2.62
£0.62
ANNUAL TOTAL
£83.04
£59.04
£31.44
£7.44
Cashback on bills vs interest in account
There is a extra option to consider. If your current account pays interest on the balance held there (rather than in a separate account that you’d have to transfer money over for), how much would that make? Could it better just to do that and forget about the cashback? Or does this help make the Edge Up more appealing as you’d automatically get both.
Let’s use my bills total from the table above, which comes in at £562 a month. If I left that cash in my account all month, and paid the direct debits on the last day, a rate of 3.5% (as Starling or the Santander Edge Up offers) would earn £19.67 interest if I did the same every month of the year.
That’s still not enough to chose this approach instead, or go for the Edge Up. You can of course combine the interest from Starling (or any other account) with cashback from Santander, by keeping the money in that account for as long as possible before you need to transfer it so the direct debits are paid.
Santander Edge accounts vs other interest rates
The table below shows how much interest you’d earn on £1,000, £4,000, £10,000, £20,000 and £25,000 when held in either the Santander 123, Santander Edge, Edge Up or a decent top-paying easy access account (at the time of writing) of 5%. The 123 Lite doesn’t pay interest.
These figures are without the fee, as I’m assuming that this is covered by the cashback you earn each year. If you aren’t earning the cashback I don’t see much point in using either the Edge or 123 for your savings.
The only exception is when you have a joint account which allows you to open two Edge Savers, and have at least £4,500 across the two accounts. And remember the 7% is only for one year and it then drops to 3.5%.
Anyway, back to the returns:
Amount saved
Interest earned in Santander 123 (2% up to £20,000)
Interest earned in Santander EdgeSaver (7% for 1st year only up to £4,000)
Interest earned in Santander Edge Up (3.5% up to £25,000)
Interest earned in 5% paying account
£1,000
£20
£70
£35
£50
£4,000
£80
£280
£150
£200
£10,000
£200
£280
£350
£500
£20,000
£400
£280
£700
£1,000
£25,000
£400
£280
£875
£1,250
It’s clear the Edge pays the most on up to £4,000, and for balances above that you’d want money in the best easy-access account.
Summary: Which is the best Santander account for you?
Should you get a Santander Edge or Edge Up account?
Let’s assume you don’t already have any of the accounts above (we’ll come back to whether you should swap from existing 123 accounts in a bit).
As long as you are paying those bills, and you’ll earn more than the monthly fee, it’s well worth getting one of these accounts. My preference is to go for the Edge as it’s cheaper and the extra features on the Edge Up won’t justify the additional £24 a year.
But I wouldn’t use it as my main account. There are far better options when it comes to the app and banking experience, plus a few with more lucrative extras.
Personally I’d set this up as an additional account solely to pay the bills. A standing order from your main account can transfer over the required cash each month, which will cover those bills.
Most of these bills are set amounts that won’t change without notice, so it requires little ongoing maintenance. Though obviously you’ll need to make sure you cover ones that can change each month – for example an increased mobile phone bill, or any annual increases to those bills (usually in April of each year).
Should you swap a Santander 123 for a Edge account?
The Santander 123 and 123 Lite current accounts closed to new customers in June 2023, but existing customers can keep their account open and continue to earn cashback.
I’d choose to keep hold of this account rather than opting for the Edge, especially if you have the 123 Lite. You’ll earn more back every month thanks to the higher rates on some bills.
Andy’s Analysis: Edge, 123 or 123 Lite?
If you have a 123 Lite then I’d absolutely keep it. If not, then my instinct is that the 123 will be the better account. That’s because despite a higher monthly fee you’ll get more cashback on energy bills, which can really add up while bills are so high.
Even if you’re also tempted by the Edge for the cashback at the supermarket, I’d look at alternatives that will earn you the same 1% at many more retailers.
And though the interest rate on the Edge Saver is hard to beat, I don’t think it’s enough to compensate for the lower cashback on your bills.
Santander switching bonus
Santander launched its first proper switching bonus in late 2021. The most recent offer, in March 2024 is for £185. This is a decent deal and is open to existing customers.
The faster you pay off debts, the less they’ll cost.
I use my credit card as much as I can for two reasons. One, I earn 1% cashback on most of my spending, and two, I know I can pay the full amount off every month.
Yet if those two weren’t the case, especially the last one, I’d avoid credit cards on almost all occasions (there are some exceptions). Misuse credit cards and the debts you build-up could cost you far more than you realise.
Here are six ways to clear your cards faster – whether you’re just mismanaging your repayments or you’re struggling with an unmanageable debt.
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Pay it off with savings
You’re probably being charged at least 20% interest on your credit card spending. Possibly 30%, if not more. So if there’s £500 on there, just 20% will add on nearly £10 for the first month alone.
So if you were to pay off the card rather than keep cash in savings you’d save £7.92 a month, or £94 a year. And it’ll be a much bigger saving if you’ve got a larger or more expensive card debt.
It’s good financial sense to have access to emergency cash, but if you have a credit card available, then consider that as your back up and clear the debt.
Transfer it to a 0% card
A zero percent balance transfer card allows you to move your existing credit card debt to a new one which doesn’t charge ANY interest for a set time.
This is a good alternative to paying off the debt straight away and it’ll give you some breathing space to cut down the card.
Have a plan of how you’ll pay off the card before the 0% period ends, ideally a set amount each month.
You can get ridiculously long 0% cards now, though if you think you can do this under 18 months it’s possible to avoid paying a transfer fee at all.
Pay as much as you can each month
It’s amazing how many people don’t realise just making the minimum repayments is a bad thing. Yes, though it’s vital to do this to avoid nasty extra fees, it won’t help you pay off a card.
Most minimum repayments are a percentage of the debt. So as you reduce the debt, the payments get smaller and smaller. This means it takes ages to pay off the debt. For example a £500 debt at 19% would take close to 18 years to clear and cost £842 in interest (based on paying just 2% each month).
Really you should be paying as much as you can. Doing this will reduce the interest you pay and clear the cards faster. So £25 a month will clear it a £500 debt in two years at the cost of £95. That’s a saving of more than £700!
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Prioritise multiple credit card debts
If you have more than one card you owe money on, don’t pay them off evenly. Instead focus the bulk of your cash on one of those until that is cleared, then move on to the next one.
If you go for the most expensive debt, i.e. the one with the highest interest rate, you’ll reduce the total interest cost faster. This is known as the “avalanche” method.
Or if you target the smallest debt first, you’ll reduce the total number of debts faster. This is known as “Snowballing”, and is popular to help with motivation.
What’s vital with either approach is that you still maintain the minimum repayments on the other cards while you do this.
Set up a direct debit
Even though I always pay off my cards in full, there was one time where I forgot to post the cheque (yes, this was a a long time ago). If I hadn’t remembered and phoned the card provider on the due day, the missed payment would have shown as a default my credit report and added penalty charges to my bill.
To avoid this, I set up a direct debit to guarantee payment is made every month. You do need to make sure you have enough in your current account though – otherwise you could get hit by overdraft charges.
Get a low rate, long-term card
If you’ve got large or multiple credit card debts, or don’t have the credit rating to get a 0% card, you could look to consolidate your cards at a lower monthly interest rate.
This could be around 5% or 6%, a significant reduction from the rate you’re currently paying. For example, a £500 debt at 6%, with £25 month payments, will cost £27 in interest – £68 less than keeping it on a 19% card.
Beat the queues (and closing branches) by depositing a cheque with a mobile banking app.
It’s been years since I received or wrote a cheque. But during the first lockdown I helped some elderly neighbours with their shopping. And since they were housebound and not online the easiest way for them to pay me was via cheque.
Normally that would mean a visit to the bank in order to deposit to my account, but it actually gave me a chance to try out an online banking feature I’ve been unable to use before.
Since late 2017, some banks have used cheque imaging software to scan your cheques using the banking apps on your phone.
More and more banks now let you do this, and it’s a handy feature for those too busy or unable to head to a bank, or perhaps have seen their local branch close down.
How to pay in a cheque with your banking app
If your bank has the feature (you can see a list of the banks that do and significant banks that don’t below), then it’s a similar process with each one.
You first take a photo of the front of the picture using the app. And once that’s gone through, you take a picture of the back – even if it’s completely blank!
The phone must be completely flat above the cheque, which must also be flat. You need to get the corners lined up to markers on the phone screen. And even if you nail this, it might not be enough. When I first tried it with Halifax it took about seven attempts to get the front to scan.
But once I worked out it needed to be on a dark background it took just seconds to snap each side and hit submit. Far quicker than heading out to the bank and queuing up.
You should see the money in your account by the end of the next working day, as long as you pay it in before a cut-off time (which varies by bank). Of course, make sure you keep the cheque until it has cleared just in case it’s rejected.
Andy’s Top Bank Apps
Banking apps aren’t just useful for paying in cheques. If you’re like me, you’re doing most of your banking on one – and some are much better than others. Here are my top apps for managing your current account:
Banks where you can pay in cheques with your phone
These are the main banks I can find that offer this feature.
Bank of Scotland
Bank of Scotland is one where the app works in exactly the same way as Halifax’s (see below)
Barclays
You’ll find the feature on the Pay & Transfer tab of your Barclays app. You can pay in a maximum of four cheques every seven days, and a cheque can’t be for more than £500.
First Direct
Since there are no branches you’d normally need to go to an HSBC or a Post Office to pay in a cheque with First Direct. However, in June 2020 the bank added the option to do this via the app, or you can also post them to the bank.
Lloyds’s pay-in via the app feature lets you deposit a cheque with the bank in exactly the same way as Halifax.
Monzo
After years where the only options was to send it via the post, since late 2023 you can now pay in cheques up to £500 via the app. For larger amounts you’ll need to post it.
Natwest
Added in May 2021, you can pay in a cheque using the Natwest app. You need to select the account you want to use and you’ll see the option. I found it much harder than on other apps to get the camera to “find” the cheque and had to put it on a dark background for it to scan.
However, once I finally got far enough to submit the cheque, the app came back saying it “couldn’t process your cheque right now”. I tried a few times before giving up! I’m sure it’s just teething problems at launch but it’s frustrating.
RBS
RBS has the same app and functionality as Natwest, so it’ll follow the same process as above.
Santander
Since late 2022 you’ve finally been able to use the Santander app to pay in a cheque. It has to be less than £500 in value. There’s a £1,000 total cap per day.
Simply go to menu in the top right hand corner and choose “Add money”. Then you’ll be able to take a photo of your cheque up to £500.
TSB
Since spring 2023, you can now scan cheques using the TSB app. Select the Payments tab at the bottom of the screen, then deposit cheque. There’s a £750 daily limit.
Virgin Money
The app for a Virgin Money, allows cheques up to £500 as long as they weren’t signed more than six months ago. You’ll find it via the menu in the top right-hand corner.
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Banks where you can’t pay in a cheque with your phone
Here are some of the notable banks which don’t have this feature. If you can’t get to any of these banks to pay in a cheque, you can head to your Post Office and deposit it there. However, all they’ll do is post it on for you so it can take a while to clear.
Chase Bank
Chase does not have the function to pay in a cheque via the app. In fact there are no ways to deposit a cheque. Instead you’ll need to pay it into a different account and transfer the money across.
Co-operative Bank
You’ll need to visit a branch or post cheques for Co-op Bank.
Kroo
It’s not possible to add a cheque to Kroo at all, so you’ll need to deposit one elsewhere and transfer over.
It’s really simple to open up a new bank account at one of those listed above which do let you pay in a cheque with the app on your phone.
You can either open up a new account and keep your old one, or you can choose to switch using the Current Account Switch Service which moves all your standing orders, direct debits and future payments.
With so much quality TV now online from the likes of Netflix and Disney, I’ve taken a look into whether paying for the BBC represents good value for money.
It’s been announced that in 2024, the TV Licence is increasing by £10.50 a year, with the annual cost set to be £169.50.
This is a below inflation increase (that would have been £15 more), and follows two years of no increases at all. That’s already led to a number of cuts at the broadcaster, with more no doubt set to come.
There will be some who will be pleased to hear there, and advocate that people cancel their TV Licence now rather than pay more. I’ve shared in this article who needs to have one and who doesn’t.
However for me, the big question isn’t how to ditch the licence fee, but should you?
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Who needs a TV Licence
Here’s when you need a TV Licence:
If you watch any live TV
If you record any TV
If you watch BBC TV on iPlayer, no matter the device (eg on your phone, games console, TV etc)
Despite more and more of us using streaming services, this is still pretty much most TV viewing.
So realistically the only way you’re eligible to avoid the licence fee is if you only watch online streaming or catch up services (not including iPlayer), and if you never watch or record broadcast TV.
Now if that’s the case, then you don’t have to pay, and I’ve shared further down how you can cancel your TV Licence.
Over 75s
A rule change a few years ago meant not all over 75s get a free TV Licence. However, many will still be able to claim one as long as they already receive pension credit. Here’s more information on the TV Licensing website.
Before we start
Everyone has an opinion about the BBC, especially the news output which those on the right say is too left wing and those on the left say is too right wing. We’re going to put that aside for this analysis and focus just on what you get for the money you pay.
I also want to put my cards on the table here at the start. When I was five or six, I declared that I wanted to work for the BBC when I was older. And I did. From 22 to 33 years old I worked all over the Beeb, before leaving to start up Be Clever With Your Cash. So it’s important to me.
Though it’s certainly not perfect (what large organisation is?). I do believe we’re better off as a country with the BBC than without. And that will obviously inform on my analysis below.
But it’s more than a decade since I left the broadcaster, and so much has changed in that time – not just at the BBC, but also how we consume our media – which goes for me too.
And the cost of living crisis has made every penny we spend so much more important, making value for money as a licence fee payer something that really does need interrogating.
What I watch
So do I get value from BBC TV? Over the last few years my TV viewing has changed drastically. Many of my favourite dramas and comedies can be found on Netflix, Sky Atlantic and Disney+.
Yet I do still watch plenty of excellent normal TV, mainly BBC and Channel 4 (you need a TV Licence to watch or record any live TV). In fact some of the best shows I’ve watched over the last year have been on these channels.
Happy Valley, Ghosts, Traitors, Race Across the World, Match of the Day, Boiling Point and What We Do In The Shadows (all BBC), through to It’s a Sin, The Great British Bake Off and The Handmaid’s Tale (all C4). And there are plenty of great older shows available on-demand too, such as classic Attenborough, Motherland, His Dark Materials, Peaky Blinders, The IT Crowd and The Bridge.
And I’m not alone. Most TV viewing is of a free to watch channel, whether that’s via Freeview or Sky. And the most-watched shows every year are on the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. Even big import TV shows like Game of Thrones, Loki or Stranger Things haven’t come close.
Still, £169 every year is a lot of money. And there are some cheaper alternatives with very good programmes.
How the TV Licence cost compares to other media services
If you pay for the TV Licence monthly at the new price it’ll work out as £14.13 a month.
Elsewhere we’ve seen a number of streaming services hike prices, closing the gap to the licence fee.
Sky’s “on-demand” service NOW is £9.99 a month for the Entertainment channels (not movies or sport), or £119.88 a year – though there are deals to get this even cheaper, often half the price. But if you want HD and to ditch adverts you’ll pay another £6 each month.
After clamping down on sharing, Netflix starts at £4.99 a month (with adverts), but the most popular package is £10.99 a month, working out at £131.88 a year. You can pay more, at £17.99 for the top tier
And there are others like Paramount+ (£7.99 a month), while you can pay for extra content and no adverts via ITVx (£5.99 a month).
So on the whole, though there are more and more of these streaming services, and they all keep getting more expensive, they can be cheaper alternatives (if you get them on their own, or cut the price you pay via offers or go for the basic versions with adverts).
That’s a persuasive argument for ditching the Licence Fee as far as cost goes. However, I believe that as long as you can afford it, you get more for your money from the BBC than the premium services.
The thing people ranting against the TV Licence tend to forget is the money doesn’t just pay for BBC TV drama, documentaries and comedy. It also funds BBC news, sport, CBBC, radio and online.
And it’s these areas which I think make that £14.13 suddenly feel like really good value. So I’ve broken down this price between all the things it pays for and calculated below what I think is a fair representative value for each BBC service.
These figures are just for me – you will have your own views on what you use and don’t use.
BBC TV & iPlayer
My price: £7 a month
So imagine the drama, comedy, entertainment and factual part of the fee was the same price as the other streaming services at £10. Oh and iPlayer.
No matter what you might instinctively think if you just turn the TV on and watch something live, I think if you really looked at what’s on, you’d find plenty of quality new and old content to keep you going throughout the year. We’ve actually got a long list of shows we want to watch and not got around to, and add at least a couple every month.
But let’s say it’s £7, representing half of the money you pay. That’s even cheaper than most of the other options (and no adverts). I think many people would think that’s pretty fair for what you get.
And don’t forget this includes funding the production of BBC programmes you might actually end up watching on a service like Netflix! Without the licence fee they wouldn’t be made in the first place.
BBC Radio & BBC Sounds
My price: £3.50 a month
I’ve got a cool digital radio for the shower. There are four presets, and we’ve got BBC 5Live, BBC 6 Music, Heart 80s and Absolute 90s saved. My god, I hate the adverts on the latter two, making BBC radio essential.
And during the first lockdown in particular I was mainlining 5Live – a fantastic example of national broadcasting when we needed it most.
BBC podcasts are no longer just radio shows put online. Many are commissioned just for BBC Sounds, including the excellent documentary Vishal (produced by my friend Satiyesh) and music shows. Plus it’s a great way to catch up on radio you might have missed.
I do listen to a lot of Spotify, and there are some great podcasts out there (have you listened to my Cash Chats one yet?). So it is possible to get good quality music and speech content (though you need to pay to avoid constant adverts).
However, given the choice between paying for Spotify (at £10.99 a month) and paying for BBC Radio, I’d pick BBC Radio. And at an equivalent price of £3.50 a month I think that’s a bargain.
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BBC Sport
My price: £2 a month
If you had to pay £2 a month, that’s just £24 a year, to get Wimbledon, Match of the Day, 6 Nations and smaller sports like snooker, athletics and so on, plus every few years the World Cup, the Olympics and Commonwealth games, I think most people would think it’s fantastic value – especially when compared to the £11.99 cost to watch Sky Sports for one day on NOW TV.
BBC News
My price £1 a month
This is certainly an area where my view on value for money has changed (though a lot of that is down to budget cuts enforced by the government through frozen or below inflation increases to the licence fee).
I’ll now go to the Guardian first for my news updates, rather than the BBC News website, and even listen to podcasts like the News Agents over Newscast.
However, BBC News is the first place I’ll go for breaking news. And if you’ve ever watched news in the USA, you’ll appreciate not only just how good BBC News is, but how it makes sure the other news networks raise their standards.
I’d say it’s well worth paying £1 a month for this – that’s just 3.3p a day.
CBeebies and CBBC
My price: 50p a month
Let’s say it costs 50p a month (£6 a year) to have these channels – and I don’t even have kids! If you do you probably would say it’s worth paying more to get this essential content.
I grew up watching shows like Going Live, Blue Peter and so on. And more recently my niece and nephew loved programmes like Justin’s House and Operation Ouch.
And during the pandemic the BBC really raised the bar in shows to help with homeschooling.
Yes, you can get other kids shows via Sky but these are largely cheap overseas imports and I don’t think they have the same education and quality you get from the BBC.
BBC Online
My price: 0p a month
In previous years, I’d allocate 50p a month for this, as it was the place I’d go to check the weather, the news, the football scores and more? Now I hardly visit it other than to play Sounds or iPlayer, which I’ve covered in other sections. So lets treat it as something you get as part of your “contribution” to news, sports etc.
Other stuff
My price: 13p a month
Then there’s plenty of stuff we don’t see, but do benefit from.
There are technology developments which make a big difference to how we watch TV (such as iPlayer) and how other programmes are made by other people (like the cameras built for Blue Planet, or new “virtual reality sound”).
We might not listen to the World Service, but it does a fab job of promoting the UK around the world and supporting nations that really need it.
Oh, and the licence fee is also used to make sure everyone in the UK gets broadband, especially rural areas. It did the same for digital TV.
Right, I’ll shut up now. But let’s say we pay 13p a month towards all this (a total of 1.56p a year).
Money well spent or a waste of cash?
So just to quickly summarise, for me the £14.13 monthly TV licence cost could be broken down like this.
£7 a month for all the drama, comedy and documentaries (£84 a year)
£3.50 a month for all the radio (£42 a year)
£2 a month for sport (£24 a year)
£1 a month for news coverage (£12 a year)
50p a month for children’s TV (£6 a year)
13p a month for the innovations (£1.50 a year)
plus all the BBC websites
I still think the licence fee is a really good investment. In fact I think these values I’ve assigned are too probably too low for what you get, especially in the cases of sport and radio.
Yes I have made up the values above (in reality the split is different), and there will certainly be parts you don’t use at all. But it’d be easy to justify assigning higher values to the ones you use and less to those you don’t – for example if you’ve got kids you’d probably think £2 a month for CBBC is great value.
And if you consider what you might pay for all the separate parts at commercial rates, even if you only chose one or two, you’d likely pay just as much.
Should the Licence Fee be scrapped?
Andy’s analysis
The Conservative government has been heavy on anti-Licence Fee rhetoric for a good while, and that’s supported as ever by the likes of The Daily Mail and Rupert Murdoch’s News UK (The Sun & The Times) whose business interests will be boosted by a weaker BBC.
But I do recognise there’s growing resentment in some parts of the public, particularly by people who simply don’t watch any BBC (or live) TV at all. I’ll often see posts in money saving Facebook groups about scrapping it, with the majority of the hundreds of comments in favour of ditching it.
So much of what I see in these conversations is misinformed, and I hope this article can help balance some of the arguments (I find it frustrating that the BBC’s own impartiality policies prevent it from delivering any decent defence).
Like the NHS, we’d really miss the BBC if it was gone. No matter how many amazing US imports are available to watch, there’s still fantastic TV made in the UK, and a big part of it is down to the BBC. Even if you still think it’s too much money, I do think that it’s important we fight to keep the BBC independent and strong.
Alternatives
If people genuinely don’t use any BBC service then I do think it’s unfair that they should be forced to pay for it. It seems something really does need to change. But what?
It’s really tough to find a solution that could protect what the BBC stands for and enable it to produce the services it does to the standard it does without the full fee.
I also think there is a chance that for lots of people the cost will go up in order to get all the services. A recent report from the BBC said it’d likely cost £37 a month to get all the services.
That doesn’t sound too far off. The pick and mix approach to Sky via NOW TV can save you cash versus a normal Sky subscription, but if you want Entertainment, Cinema, Kids and Sport you’re still looking at paying £60 a month.
An advert funded model is another option, but ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 aren’t swimming in cash, and adding the BBC into the market will mean there’s less money to go around. So we’ll see all the free-to-air channels suffer.
And we could see the BBC outbid for some of the important big events and programmes by the likes of Amazon – forcing people to shell out more.
I imagine it’d have to be some kind of blended model. Perhaps some services funded by a reduced licence fee with others subscription only.
How to stop paying the Licence Fee
If you genuinely don’t watch any BBC TV, reckon you could do without, or don’t feel you should pay for the other BBC services then you can cancel your licence.
You can tell TV Licensing that you don’t require a licence here. Just make sure you don’t watch any live TV or use iPlayer.
Get cashback at shops like Primark and Argos to bring down your phone bill
Airtime (formerly Airtime Rewards) is a cashback app that can help you cut down the cost of your mobile phone bill. Essentially, you just connect your cards to it and earn cashback on your spending. This can then be taken off your mobile phone bill. Here’s how it works and how much you can earn with Airtime.
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What is Airtime?
Airtime (formerly Airtime Rewards) is an app you download to your phone that you connect to your bank cards. Every time you use your connected card at participating retailers — found within the app — you’ll earn some money back that’ll go towards your phone bill.
For example, if you use your connected card at Oasis to buy a £30 shirt you’ll make the transaction as usual. You don’t have to follow a specific link or scan a code at the till.
Airtime will automatically track the transaction and calculate how much cashback you’re owed – in this example and at the time of writing, that’d be 3%, which means you’d earn 90p in cashback.
This all goes into the “Rewards” section in the app, then when you have £10, you can get it knocked off your phone bill.
How does Airtime work?
You can earn cashback in two different ways: from your connected cards and by buying gift cards. Here’s how each of them works.
Connected cards
As long as you’ve connected your card to Airtime, it’ll track your spending and automatically apply cashback to your account. You may see some transactions as “pending” for a while – this is normal, and it’ll be in your account in the period specified. It’s just to allow for things like refunds.
Buying gift cards
You can also earn cashback by buying gift cards through the app. This can be a little difficult to find, but if you go to “More”, you’ll see a link under the title “More ways to earn”. Here, you’ll see the option “Buy gift cards”.
Here you’ll be able to see a list of retailers available to buy gift cards from. It seems that the general reward available is 4% across the board, and we’ve not seen any fluctuation from this yet.
To purchase a gift card, you choose the one you want and the amount you want and pay with a credit or debit card or using Apple or Google Pay. The gift card will be emailed to you and can be used immediately. The card you use needs to be registered with your account, so it can be tracked in the usual way.
This is similar to what JamDoughnut offers. You get cashback in your Airtime account a few days after making the purchase.
How much can you earn with Airtime rewards?
The rates vary by retailer. Some offer just 1%, while others offer as much as 15%. The average is about 3-4%. There are plenty of retailers that you might use often, such as Argos and Waitrose, so you can pick up a lot of cashback from regular spending.
On average, I can cash out £10 every few months.
What cards can you add to Airtime?
The cards can be a debit or credit card, but only Mastercard or Visa. Sadly, American Express won’t work.
In addition, it’s best that you don’t use Curve as this can break the link between the retailer and Airtime needed to make it track.
You add a card in the app, either by using the camera icon in the top right corner of the app to scan your card, or by typing in your card number and expiry date.
It can take 24 hours for cards to be approved, so it’s worth getting as many of your cards on the app as soon as you get it. You need to have the card active before making a transaction for it to track.
What mobiles networks can you use with Airtime?
Sadly you can’t use Airtime with every network, and some are Pay As You Go (PAYG) only. At the time of writing it works with the following:
EE
Giffgaff
O2
Three
Vodafone
Lebara Mobile (PAYG only)
Lycamobile (PAYG only)
Now Mobile (PAYG)
If you aren’t with one of these networks you won’t be able to sign up just yet.
If you switch networks, you can still collect the rewards and then either save them up for if you switch networks or gift them to someone else to put towards their mobile bill.
How do you redeem Airtime rewards?
It’s very easy to redeem your rewards. You hit the rewards tab on the app (the little piggy bank), select the amount and hit redeem. The money will be sent to your phone network and knocked off your bill. This should take just 24 hours, however it can sometimes take longer.
You need to have earned at least £10 to activate your reward, and you can only redeem £20 at a time. You can repeat the process to get more, though.
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How much you need to spend to get £10 with Airtime?
A typical rate is 3-4%, however some of the bigger brands are less than this. With an average of, say 3.5%, you’d need to spend just under £300 to get your first £10.
To boost your initial rewards, you can check out the sign-up bonus on our Airtime promo codes page. You can usually get £1.50 credit, and there are frequent bonus offers available.
Gifting your rewards
If you’re feeling generous, you can send reward credit to another user registered with the app. That means that if you happen to have more than you need or aren’t on a participating network you can gift £10 to £50.
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What retailers are on Airtime?
The big names are Argos, Waitrose, Boots and Primark, but there are dozens more you’ll know.
There are new retailers added all the time and if you sign up for emails you’ll be told when this happens. It sadly won’t let you know if one leaves the app.
Some shops let you earn the money back both online and in-store while others restrict you to just one. You might need to use the card itself and not Apple Pay or Google Pay in some cases. This information is all on the app, along with the current cashback rate.
Here are some of the retailers available to earn from via your connected cards. A lot of the same retailers are available to buy gift cards from, too.
Euro Car Parts Click Mechanic Halfords Halfords Autocentre
How to stack Airtime rewards with other offers
If your bank or credit card has a reward programme which offers extra cashback at participating retailers, then you should be able to get both those rewards.
You can take it a step further and connect your card to other cashback apps, like Cheddar. And, if the Airtime retailer allows online purchases then you could shop via a cashback site like Quidco or TopCashback and earn another set of cashback. Some people say that they have issues using Chase with Airtime due to its virtual cards, but it tends to work for online purchases.
Is Airtime any good?
If you pay some attention to which retailers are on the app, and what the rates are, then you can do pretty well from Airtime. You can also double (or even triple) this up with other cashback, such as the cashback offered by Chase, and by connecting your account to Cheddar, too. I did this recently, earning 3% from Decathlon from Airtime and another 7% with Cheddar, getting a total of 10% back on my spending. I could’ve improved this using Chase. Unfortunately, you can’t use Airtime with American Express.
With this in mind, there’s the potential to earn some decent cashback with Airtime, especially if you don’t use an Amex. If you do, then you’ll need to keep an eye on the retailers on the app. It’s worth doing this anyway as some of the shops do come and go.
Good news for anyone who signed up for Chase Bank’s current account as the 1% cashback will be extended – though you’ll need to add more money to your account each month. Here’s what you need to know.
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When will Chase’s cashback now end?
Since launch, Chase Bank has offered new account holders 1% cashback for 12 months, which is activated when you open the account.
It’s already been extended twice. Those who opened the account before 1 March 2022 were able to keep earning cashback until 28 February 2023, and then last year another year was added on to at least 31 March 2024.
And now it will continue indefinitely, now called “Everyday cashback”. It applies to all customers, new and old, though it only begins once your current offer ends.
You’ll still be capped at £15 of cashback a month, but there are changes to the qualifying conditions this time around.
How to extend your Chase cashback
You don’t need to activate the offer in the app as it’ll automatically start when your current 12 month offer ends. For those who’s cashback is due to end on 31 March 2024, you’ll keep earning as normal until the end of the month as long as you deposited £500 in February.
But from 1 March that monthly requirement is going to increase to £1,500 a month. As long as you do this, you’ll earn your 1% cashback on spending in April. You’ll then need to add the same amount in April to get cashback in May, and so on.
If your offer doesn’t end until later, say 18 September 2024, then the new rules will apply from 19 September 2024, meaning you’ll need to have paid in the higher £1,500 in August.
The money has to come from an external source, and can’t be an internal transfer between your different sub-Chase accounts. Refunds also won’t count.
This time it can also be added to your Chase savings account as well or instead of the current account. At the moment this pays 4.1%, which is decent but can be beaten with more than 5% available elsewhere.
Don’t worry if you don’t have £1,500 a month to add in one go as the terms and conditions don’t state this must be a single payment (we’ve had this confirmed by Chase too). That means you’ll be able to hit this threshold in increments. In fact, you could add a smaller amount, withdraw it to a different account, and pay it in again, and both deposits would count towards the total.
This will apply to all existing customers once their existing cashback offer ends. However, new customers signing up won’t have to do this until their first year is complete.
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How much cashback can you earn?
The 1% rate remains the same, as does the £15 monthly cap. This means you’ll only get it on spending of up to £1,500 each month. That’s pretty generous for most everyday spending as there are already some exclusions.
However, you will likely miss out if you are making a large purchase – though since it’s often wise to use a credit card for anything really expensive to get additional consumer protection.
Where to earn cashback with Chase
You’ll get 1% back on most purchases made with your debit card, but there are some exceptions.
You won’t get the money back from financial transactions, such as clearing credit card bills, paying tax bills, buying crypto and cash withdrawals.
Also exempt are things like hospital bills and vehicle purchases. You can see the full list here.
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The 1% rate is the best rate out there for most purchases. Though you might get a slightly better rate on retailer specific cards, they tend to offer much lower cashback when you spend elsewhere.
The only other card offering the same 1% is the American Express Nectar card, offering 2 points per £1, with each point worth 0.5p at Sainsbury’s, eBay and Argos. However in year two this card has an annual fee that needs to be factored in.
It’s also worth checking if you’re eligible for any welcome bonuses that could make your spending much more rewarding. Personally I’d wait until these are boosted so you earn even more, though you might also need to time them for when you have larger amounts of spending.
Cashback credit cards can also be better when you’re buying items costing more than £100 as you’ll get improved consumer protections.
Moving bank can bring you savings and make it easier to manage your money. But what does it do to your credit report?
I’ve had a few readers ask me recently about the impact of switching bank or opening up new accounts on their credit score.
When you switch bank there are two things you’re doing. Opening a new current account and closing an old one. Both these actions could have an impact on your credit report.
Though for most people the odd switch won’t make much difference, the more you do it, the bigger the impact. Here’s what you need to know.
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New bank accounts and credit checks
Each time you open a new current account to switch to, the new bank will look at your credit report. There are two ways they can do this.
One is known as a ‘soft check’. For a current account, this is essentially just to verify you are who you say you are. Although it could potentially be used to let you know the chances of getting an overdraft – perhaps even a pre-approved one.
Just performing a soft check won’t appear on your file. This is also what happens when you get comparison sites to provide a load of quotes or when you check your own file.
However, most banks and lenders will instead conduct a ‘hard check’. This is where the result of the application – good or bad – will appear on your report, usually for a year. With most bank account applications it will be one of these hard checks.
I’ve shared further down the article which main banks won’t hard search a new current account, so you can use it as a dummy account for switching.
When opening a bank account can hurt your credit score
Multiple hard checks on your report
If the bank is running a hard check when you apply for an account, this mark will appear on your report. Now, if you’re just opening a new bank account that’s not really going to be much of an issue.
But if you’re opening more than one current account in a short space of time, or also opening a credit card, switching your energy, applying for a loan and so on, they’ll see multiple searches.
This could indicate to a lender that you’re desperate for credit, and therefore not a good person to accept.
That doesn’t mean you can’t do it. If you have a healthy credit report and don’t have any essential applications for credit coming up you can probably get away with a number of applications – though your score will dip, it will recover.
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Just applying for one as part of your application can have a negative impact on your credit score – even if you don’t use it.
It’s not just that if you do this the bank will conduct one of those hard searches on your report. The overdraft itself will also show future lenders that you already have access to credit and they might not want to lend you more.
There’s a chance an unused overdraft could help your credit report in the longer term if it helps you keep your credit utilisation (i.e. the percent of borrowing you’re actually using) at under 25%. But using one will cost you unless it’s at 0%.
So if you don’t need an overdraft with your new account then don’t apply for it. And I’d suggest you look elsewhere for cheaper lending IF you eventually need it.
Opening a joint account
When you open any financial product with another person, your credit files become linked. So if the person you run the account with has a bad credit score then it could bring your rating down too. And it goes both ways, so you could hurt someone else’s ability to get credit.
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When switching a bank account can hurt your credit score
Losing longevity
This is one to consider if you’re switching from an older bank account. A good signal for your credit score is a long relationship with a financial provider.
Often the longest one we have is with our bank, so switching away replaces years and years of this for an account with no history.
So even if the new account is just a soft search on your credit report, switching could still see a knock-on effect.
There are a few ways around this. First, it’s all your credit accounts, including credit cards, which are looked at, and it’s often the average age. So if you have an older credit card, that mitigates moving away from a long-term bank.
Or you avoid closing the old account completely. If you open a new account and can run a partial switch rather than a full switch. This will help you move all your direct debits, standing orders and balance without you having to close the old account.
However, you won’t be able to claim any of the free cash bonuses or get the benefits of the seven-day Current Account Switching Guarantee.
Alternatively, you can open a new account designed just for switching. You might have to set up a couple of direct debits or make a minimum deposit each month, but you can use this to switch for bonuses.
Now we know the impact of bank switching, it’s important to clarify a few things about credit scores. First up, there are three different scores from three different credit reference agencies. They all assess your credit report differently, so each contributing factor might have a different impact on each score.
Second, though scores can give you an idea of how healthy your credit report is, it’s the credit file itself that banks and lenders look at – not the score.
The way they will interpret the data on the report will change from institution to institution, so they might not agree with the scoring set by the credit reference agency.
And the credit report isn’t even the only thing banks will look at. For example, they might have their own data about if you’re an existing or past customer, and you’ll provide some additional information when you apply.
That means even with a great score you could get turned down for certain applications, or even if you’re rejected for one product, another might accept you.
So the point is, though credit scores are useful for us as customers, it’s what appears in the file that matters to those doing the checks. And that means don’t get too caught up in your score dropping after a bank switch.
Saying that it’s still very important to keep your credit score in mind when thinking about the latest switch offer.
In particular, if you’re planning to apply for anything major in the next six months, such as a credit card or loan, and especially a mortgage, then it makes sense to avoid opening a new account and switching for six months to a year.
Are multiple bank switches a bad idea?
The more you switch, especially in a short space of time, the bigger the drop in your credit score. So it’ll make short-term applications harder.
Experian recommends spacing out new applications for any type of credit every three months or so. At best that’s four bank switches per year. And if you factor in other things like credit cards that could reduce further.
But you can switch more than this – I once switched three accounts in the same month, and I’ve regularly opened new types of credit in concurrent months. But I also didn’t have anything important to apply for that year.
Of course, this won’t be a probem if you’ve been switching for a while as you might find you’re only eligible for new switch deals once or twice a year, if that.
Bank accounts that won’t hard credit check you
No credit check bank accounts are obviously useful if you need a new current account to switch from.
Full current accounts
Starling Bank
This digital bank will only do a soft check when you apply. They’ll use that to verify who you are and check what overdraft they could offer you, but they won’t do the full hard search unless you say you’d like the overdraft. Here’s a full Starling Bank review.
Monzo Bank
There’s also no hard check for Monzo, another digital bank. Here’s a full Monzo Bank review.
Chase Bank
You can now switch in and out of Chase, though if you switch away you won’t ever be able to open another. Here’s a full Chase Bank review.
Basic bank accounts
Most major banks will offer these free accounts. They won’t be subject to a credit check and you can open one with just one form of ID. You can do everything with one that you can with a standard account. However if you’re eligible for a full account you probably won’t be able to get a basic account.
Some additional accounts
If you already have a current account with a bank, it might be possible to open an extra one without a hard search. Over on the Facebook group, some readers have reported this for Lloyds, Halifax and Santander, and I had the same experience. However I’d always approach doing this with the expectation that a hard search could happen.
How to not pay for a ticket to festivals big and small – from Glastonbury through to Reading/Leeds, and All Points East to Rewind.
I love music festivals. But they aren’t cheap. One-day events can easily cost more than £80 after fees (those damn fees!), and you’ve got to factor in travel, food and drink on top. And obviously it’s much more for weekend festivals.
This means I’m always looking for deals and ways to save on festivals (here are a few tips), but if money really is tight yet you have the time, then it’s well worth looking into volunteering.
Essentially in exchange for a shift or two (or three if it’s a longer festival), you get free entry to the festival. Yes, you are working, so you might miss some of the action, but it could easily be saving you hundreds of pounds.
What volunteers do at festivals
If you’ve ever been to a festival, you’ve seen the type of jobs volunteers do. There are those scanning tickets and tying wristbands. There are people pulling pints. There are others picking up rubbish and recycling. And there are some just generally helping out by giving information.
Shifts tend to be seven or eight hours long. Though these are assigned in advance, it looks like at most festivals it’s possible to switch with other volunteers if they agree – just in case your favourite band clashes with the time you are working.
For longer festivals you may be required to work one night shift, and you might be working far away from the stages. Day festivals shifts tend to end at 8pm so you’ll be able to catch the headliner.
You also usually need to attend some training, and some festivals require volunteers to attend a day or two before the masses arrive.
Festivals you can volunteer at
Following so many cancellations over the last few years, there are dozens running in 2024, and I’ve seen opportunities including:
Glastonbury (volunteering via Water Aid deadline is 19 February 2024)
Leeds/ Reading Festival
Isle of Wight Festival
BST
All Points East
Creamfields
Download
Lattitude
Camp Bestival
Boomtown
Latitude
Other volunteering benefits
You often get secure camping, guaranteeing you a decent spot that isn’t miles away from the action – and possibly some exclusive showers and toilets. When you’re working you’ll probably get a free meal too, saving some extra cash.
Some festivals will allow you to bring children with you too – though it depends on each event.
Volunteering requirements
You will need to be over 18 at most if not all festivals in order to volunteer and have proof you can work in the UK.
You also need to pay a refundable deposit, which is usually the equivalent of the ticket price. There’s a good reason for this – it stops people using volunteering as an opportunity to get tickets to sold out events and not turning up for their shifts. But it does mean you need to send cash up front. You may also have to wait up to 30 days for the deposit to be refunded.
Some roles require experience, such as bar work, though that depends on the festival. The most popular festivals might also request you work another festival in the same year too.
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How to apply for festival volunteering
You can check out the information pages at different festivals, or take a look at one of the following sites. Some festivals offer different opportunities through different organisers. For example, you can volunteer for Reading or Leeds with either Hotbox or Oxfam.
If you’re applying with friends you can ask for shifts together (or at the same time) on the application.
Most are first come first serve, so the earlier you apply the better.
If you go via the likes of Oxfam or My Cause then you’re also helping charities, which sounds good to me!
