How to find out if you’re better off with a meter or set rates.
With some huge price increases on water bills in 2025, any way to save some money is going to be a good thing. SO is a water meter the answer?
Well, the answer depends mainly on how much water you actually use. Sometimes they can save you a decent chunk of cash every year, but others will see their bills rocket when one is installed.
I’d always been unsure about them, but now after a good few years of being charged for the water I use, I can share with you whether it was worth it for me, and how to estimate what one could mean for you.
Plus I’ve some tips to help you reduce your usage and bring bills down further.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
Who can get a water meter?
For most homes in England and Wales you can ask your water company to fit a water meter. It’s normally completely up to you. However, some water companies, including Thames Water, have made it compulsory.
It’s free to get a water meter installed in England and Wales. You’ve usually got one to two years after installation to compare costs. If you find it’s costing you more, you can switch back to your standard rates. That is of course unless you’re in an area with compulsory metering.
Some water meters are smart meters that let you monitor use. Others need to be read by the water company and you have to wait for your bill to find out charges.
In Northern Ireland your water rates are already included and in Scotland a water meter installation isn’t free.
Should you get a water meter?
So how do you know if one is good for you? Well, non-metered water is charged based on the size of your house – a bit like council tax. Water meters on the other hand measure exactly how much you are using.
A simple rule of thumb to decide which is for you is if there are more bedrooms than there are people living in a house. If so then you’re likely to be paying more than you need to for your water.
If you want to get a more accurate picture, then there’s also an online calculator. That’s what I looked at before deciding whether to give the meter a go.
The calculator will give you a rough total which is estimated on exactly how many showers you have a week, how many times you use the dishwasher, washing machine, baths, how many times you flush the toilet and so on.
The problem is if you have more people in a house than there are bedrooms or people use water a lot – maybe you’re a keen gardener regularly using the hose – then it’s very likely to cost you more money.
New Trading 212 customers get an increase of 0.72% AER to 5.07% for 12 months.
More details ▼
Additional Info
Existing Trading 212 customers get a rate of 4.5%
FSCS Protected?: Yes
Allows transfers in?: Yes
Flexible ISA?: Yes
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Did it save us cash?
Andy’s analysis
Because only two of us are living in a four-bedroom house there was always a good chance we’d be paying less with a water meter.
Back in the summer of 2018, before we switched, our annual bill was £590. The calculator estimated a new cost of £376 a year via a meter, a huge saving of £214. So it was a no-brainer for us to give this a try.
Frustratingly, we couldn’t read the meter ourselves, and there was no bill at all for the first 13 months!! When it arrived the total for that first year was pretty close to the estimate at £390. A little more than the estimate, but we were still saving a fair wedge of cash each year.
However, since then, our water usage – and our bills – have varied. Water usage in 2019 was 102m3, but a massive 123m3 in 2020 (probably due to lockdowns). This meant our bill jumped up to £480. Still a decent saving, but not as large.
In 2022, usage was down to 78m3, costing £324. Then it went up again in 2023 to 91m3 and a total of £425. The figure for 2024, the last statement I received, was 92m3 at a cost of £481.
That’s still a big annual difference of more than £100 compared to our non-metered charge from back in 2018! And since prices for unmetered rates have increased every year, the actual saving will be far higher.
When I think back to my previous house, where I lived for close to eight years, if we’d switched then and got similar savings we could have been close to a grand better off.
But – bear in mind my savings are based on the water usage of two people. I’ve played around with the calculator to estimate the cost if more people lived here. It’s still cheaper with three adults, but it could easily be £70 or £80 extra each year with four people than the fixed rates. So it’s important you check for your own circumstances.
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How to reduce costs when you have a water meter
If you’ve already got a meter because you’ve moved into a house with a meter, had one for more than two years or compulsory installations are happening, well there are still ways you can cut your bills and it’s very very simple. You use less water.
There are obvious things you can do. For example, turning off the tap when you clean your teeth, or it’s making sure that you don’t necessarily flush the loo every single time. There’s that phrase “if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down”. It might sound a bit rough… but it’s true that you don’t necessarily need to flush it every time – and that will save some water.
Free water saving devices
In fact there are all sorts of things you can get which can help you use less water. From special bags that go in the water cistern to reduce the flush through to shower timers. There are even slow release crystals you can put in plant pots which mean you don’t need to water them as often. And they are free from most water companies.
For most providers you can go via Save Water Save Money and enter your postcode. You’ll see what’s available and what you can order for free. Alternatively, just google your water company and see if they offer anything for customers.
Here are some offers for when you’re heading out to the pub.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
Pub promotions
Brewdog: free pint
Sign up to Brewdog’s loyalty scheme, Brewdog Treats, and get a free pint of any Brewdog draught beer as well as discounts and rewards to spend at the bar.
You’ll need to redeem the pint within 30 days and you can use it in all UK BrewDog bars apart from: Hull, Upminster, Edinburgh Waverley, Edinburgh Airport, Gatwick Airport, Belfast Grand Central.
Until 17 April 2025 you can activate a code in the All Bar One app to get buy one get one free pints of Brooklyn’s Stonewall Inn IPA. It’s valid Monday to Friday.
There’s a code to redeem the offer which you can use at the bar or in the app.
You can only redeem it once and you some bars are excluded.
Greene King is offering buy one get one free for its own craft beers: Level Head, Hazy Day, Flint Eye and Prior Life. It’s running in England and Wales only. There’s currently no end date for the offer, just “while stocks last”.
All you’ve got to do is head to the pub and order your choice to get it.
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Free drinks via apps
These apps often have free drinks to claim.
El Tab: £9.99 a week for free drinks
Smartphone app El Tab offers Londoners up to four free drinks every night of the week in different bars across the city. It usually costs £9.99 a week or £24.99 a month.
The app Dusk gives you a free drink each day at selected bars.
Just download the app and look for the bars participating. If you use the referral code AWEBB5 you’ll earn 500 reward points. I’m not sure they actually do anything right now, but there’s no harm in adding it to your account.
Free drinks with Embargo app
Another app, this one lets you check in to various venues to claim free drinks and discounts. Some are only available if you’ve collected ‘stamps’ from previous visits.
Use the code AMPLIFYING when you sign up. Not sure if there’s a reward but it’s worth a go!
Free drink with Mixr
Mixr is an app that lets you search for, view menus at and book at any pubs and bars owned by Stonegate Pubs. You can also pay in the app and earn points.
Download the Green King Sport app to get 10% off future orders during live sport. There’s also the chance to win more free drinks and prizes such as tickets to gigs, festivals and sporting events.
Download the We Love Sport app and there are often promos for free or discounted beers.
There seems decent coverage of pubs across the big towns and cities (eg 9 bars in Leeds, 5 in York and 5 in Huddersfield), but you won’t be able to use it everywhere. You can see participating pubs in the offer section of the app.
Our top deals
Here are a few ongoing and recent offers you might have missed:
Find a free business bank account for your business type
A business bank account is a separate bank account from your personal one that you maintain just for your business. These accounts are more tailored to business banking, so you can integrate accounting tools, make invoices and categorise your expenses. Some accounts are limited to certain types of businesses, so you’ll need to check that your business is eligible to have an account with your chosen bank.
Integration with accounting tools: Can be connected to accounting sotware
Invoicing tools: Yes
Cash withdrawals: 3 free per month, 2% thereafter
Access: Online or via app
Eligible companies: Sole traders or limited companies
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Do you need a business bank account?
If you’re a sole trader or just earning extra via a side hustle then you don’t need to have a specialist business bank account. You can make do with a standard (and free) personal account.
You don’t have to use the same one you bank with day-to-day. It’s generally best to separate your business money from your personal cash, so it’s best to open a new account — it’s up to you whether you stick with the same bank you use for your personal banking or try a different one. Keeping them separate will be useful when it comes to doing your tax return and working out which purchases were business-related.
But, if you are part of a Limited Company then you’ll have to have a specific business account.
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What to look out for when searching for a business bank account
When choosing a business bank account there will be a few differences from regular bank accounts that you’ll want to consider.
Fees
You’ll be more likely to come across fees with these bank accounts. We’ve shown the free accounts above, although this refers to whether there’s a monthly fee. The other fees you might come across include:
Initial set-up fee
Cash deposit fees
Cash withdrawal fees
Transaction fees
Fees for payments in
Fees for transfers out
It’s important to consider what your business is likely going to need. For example, if you take a lot of cash payments, you might be more interested in getting free cash deposits, while a company that doesn’t handle cash much wouldn’t be bothered about cash deposits.
Eligibility
Some accounts aren’t available for all businesses. If you have a Limited Liability Partnership, for example, you’ll have fewer choices when it comes to business bank accounts. Check out “eligible companies” in further details above for an overview. You’ll also want to double-check with the bank directly. Generally speaking, sole traders and limited companies should be eligible for all of the accounts above, although there are often excluded business types.
Cash deposits
Many of the business bank accounts listed above are digital banks, which means there isn’t a high street branch for you to deposit cash into your account, however, most of them will let you deposit cash at the Post Office or using PayPoint. Some have associations with high-street banks — for example, Mettle is owned by NatWest so you can pay in cash at NatWest branches.
Integration
A lot of business bank accounts offer integration with accounting software like Xero or Quickbooks. Or, they’ll offer the option to export your transactions to give your accountant or upload them into your chosen software. If you don’t have accounting software, you probably wouldn’t need this, although it may be useful in the future.
Some business bank accounts come with a free trial of accounting software. While this is worthwhile if you think you’ll need accounting software, remember to cancel it if you don’t think it’s something you’ll need.
If you want to boost your savings when shopping online, there’s a simple way to make money – cashback.
If you’re new to cashback sites, you can nab sign-up offers giving you over £50 in free cash when you first buy something.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
How cashback sites afford to give you money
Retailers often pay a commission to websites that help them make a sale. Cashback sites simply pay you a cut of this money if you shop with them.
How to get even more money from the cashback sites
Since there are a few of these sites, they’re all competing for you to shop via them – which means they all give incentives to get you to sign up.
So even if you’ve already registered with one, you can sign up with another and shop away.
They all have different custom cashback rates at different shops, so it’s worth signing up for them all and shopping around for the one which will give you the most money.
Right now you could earn a free £30 for doing your shopping as normal, and get further cashback on top. Here are the best ones:
New customer offers
Quidco: £24 bonus cashback when you spend £5
The best deal is for subscribers to our weekly newsletter who get access to an exclusive £24 first-time bonus when they spend £5. You’ll also get the cashback offered by the retailer on top.
Once you sign up, you’ll need to click on the sign up confirmation email that will be sent immediately. If you don’t see it please check your spam folders as it could be there, and then add our email address to your safe senders list.
Then look for a special email that will be sent to you with the exclusive Quidco sign-up link. Make sure to read the terms and conditions on Quidco’s website before making your first purchase to ensure it tracks.
This offer is due to end 31 May 2025, but will hopefully be extended
You can get a £20 new member bonus. You need to spend £10 via one of the retailers listed on TCB to get this bonus (excluding takeaways). You must go via this link or the button below.
Read the full terms and conditions when you click through. Ends 30 June 2025.
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JamDoughnut: get £4 for signing up
We’ve managed to snag a cheeky boosted welcome offer for Be Clever With Your Cash readers. You can get £4 extra cashback – double the standard welcome bonus.
It’ll be paid as two sets of 200 points when you make your first purchase.
The first 200 points you get are standard for first-time users of JamDoughnut, while the extra 200 points are for coming through our link. The first 200 points will be instant, while the second ones will take a few days to be added by the JamDoughnut team.
You might be prompted to enter a code. You don’t need to do this as the link will track. But if you want to, then add BCWYC.
You can get £2 when you sign up for cashback app Cheddar using the referral code CLEVER2 and buy your first prepaid card. You’ll also get boosted cashback rates for two weeks.
You have to make the purchase within 14 days of signing up using the invite code to get it.
Another decent cashback site is the app Airtime. New member bonuses are much smaller. You’ll get 50p for signing up with code H9HJCPAY and another £1 when you spend within seven days. Sometimes these are boosted.
If you don’t want to sign up for our newsletter, this short term offer that can get you £12 cashback on any purchase, as long as you spend £5 or more. So if you spend £5 at any of the 4,300 retailers listed on Quidco – which is pretty much all of them – you’ll get this bonus back plus whatever the cashback rate is. This ends 31 July 2024.
New Trading 212 customers get an increase of 0.72% AER to 5.07% for 12 months.
More details ▼
Additional Info
Existing Trading 212 customers get a rate of 4.5%
FSCS Protected?: Yes
Allows transfers in?: Yes
Flexible ISA?: Yes
▲
Existing customer bonuses
From time to time both Quidco and TopCashback offer an extra bonus. You need to activate these deals and they generally only run for a short period of time – often just one day.
Airtime tends to have promo codes you need to enter on the app to get the extra offer.
The best are generic promos which you can gain with any spending. Sometimes they might be for specific retailers or types of service (eg travel or broadband). I’ll share any decent ones I spot here.
Things to watch out for
Cashback is never guaranteed. If your purchase doesn’t track (i.e. there isn’t a record of you buying the item via the cashback site) you won’t get the money.
Here’s how to increase your chances you will get the money:
Read the (short) terms and conditions for the sign-up deals, and also the individual shop promotions.
Be careful using voucher codes. If they aren’t listed on the cashback page they might stop you getting cashback.
Make sure you don’t already have a browser window open for the retailer.
Get free cash when you shop at thousands of shops or other bonuses with these Quidco sign-up bonus offers.
We’re big fans of cashback and – even better – you can often get a bonus when you sign up for the first time.
Quidco is one of the big cashback sites, and we’ll list the best deals here, as well as any other specific cashback deals we think you can’t afford to miss.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
What is Quidco?
Quidco is a cashback website that lets you earn money back when you shop through its platform. It works with thousands of retailers across different categories, including fashion, tech, travel and groceries. When you make a purchase through Quidco, a percentage of what you spend is tracked and later paid out as cashback, which you can withdraw to your bank, PayPal, or as a gift card.
First time Quidco user offers
There are regular retailer-specific offers that come and go which could save you £10 or £15 if you buy at those shops. But the two generic offers below are far better as they mean you can spend your money wherever you want on whatever you want.
£24 bonus cashback when you spend £5
The best deal is for subscribers to our weekly newsletter who get access to an exclusive £24 first-time bonus when they spend £5. You’ll also get the cashback offered by the retailer on top.
Once you sign up, you’ll need to click on the sign up confirmation email that will be sent immediately. If you don’t see it please check your spam folders as it could be there, and then add our email address to your safe senders list.
Then look for a special email that will be sent to you with the exclusive Quidco sign-up link. Make sure to read the terms and conditions on Quidco’s website before making your first purchase to ensure it tracks.
This offer is due to end 31 May 2025, but will hopefully be extended
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Get £10 cashback when you spend £5, plus extra cashback
This is an ongoing offer that can get you the cashback on any purchase, as long as you spend £5 or more. So if you spend £5 at any of the 5,000+ retailers listed on Quidco – which is pretty much all of them – you’ll get £10 back plus whatever the cashback rate is. There are so many shops you’ll definitely find a way to get your cashback.
It’s worth looking for bonus cashback deals which can pop up from time to time. You need to click to activate these offers. We’ll add them below when we see them.
Quidco Flashback offers
Often Quidco has boosted cashback known as Flashback that runs for 24 hours. Sometimes we can share them in advance, although they could change or be cancelled. Always check the Quidco homepage for the full terms and conditions. You might also have to activate some offers.
Some deals will give you money without actually spending any money:
£3 bonus when you install Quidco reminder (ended)
If you use Chrome as your internet browser you’ll be able to earn a £3 bonus by installing the Quidco Reminder extension, then using it to activate cashback while shopping and spend at least £3. There are a handful of retailers excluded which are listed in the terms and conditions when you click through. The offer comes and goes.
If you shop at Tesco, you probably already have a Tesco Clubcard. But how do you spend the points to get the best value?
What are Tesco Clubcard points worth?
You’ll get one Clubcard point for every £1 you spend at Tesco.
If you spend them in-store on your groceries, 100 Clubcard points are worth £1, so that means they have a base value of 1p each. And if you’ve got 1,000 points then that’s worth £10. And so on.
1 Clubcard point = 1p
2 Clubcard points = 2p
100 Clubcard points = £1
200 Clubcard points = £2
500 Clubcard points = £5
1,000 Clubcard points = £10
2,500 Clubcard points = £25
5,000 Clubcard points = £50
This means earning Clubcard points is the equivalent of getting 1% back on your shopping at Tesco.
But they can worth more through Reward Partners (previously calledClubcard Boost). Here you swap your Clubcard points for vouchers to spend elsewhere.
There used to be variable boosts. Some doubled your points, some tripled and some even quadrupled. However, this changed in June 2023 so points are now doubled when swapped with reward partners.
How does Clubcard compare to other loyalty schemes?
You can’t spend Clubcard points until they have been converted into Clubcard vouchers. And to do this you need a minimum of 150 Clubcard points (the equivalent of £1.50). Points will only be swapped in multiples of 50.
You used to get sent these in the post with your Clubcard statement, which is sent every three months in February, May, August and November.
However this moved online for most customers in 2022. If you’ve used Tesco online you’ll get your statement and vouchers via email, unless you actively tell Tesco you still want them in the post.
A better way to convert points to vouchers is via the Faster Vouchers process as you don’t have to wait for the statement. You’ll only get a digital voucher via this method. Again you’ll need at least 150 points to convert them.
Whether paper or digital vouchers you can spend them in any Tesco store or on the Tesco online as part or full payment towards your shopping.
If you swap them with a Reward Partner you need to do this via the Clubcard website. These boosts will often have minimum levels (e.g. 50 points), and you can only swap increments of that amount (e.g. if you have 120 points you can only use 100 points)
How long Clubcard vouchers last
When you’re issued a Tesco Clubcard voucher it’s valid for 2 years. Faster vouchers last 21 months from when they are exchanged.
You can check if you’ve any vouchers and their expiration dates in your Clubcard account.
Clubcard deals and promotions
There are a few ways to use your Clubcard to save more money at Tesco.
Tesco Clubcard coupons
Some customers have access to personalised coupons via the Tesco app. These coupons are tailored to your shopping, so hopefully that means you’ll see discounts for products you buy. They won’t all be money off, some could be extra Clubcard points. If you do get the vouchers, you’ll find them via the Clubcard tab, in a section called coupons.
Tesco Clubcard Plus
This premium service costs £7.99 a month, and benefits include 10% off two shops every month. It looks like a good scheme for regular Tesco shoppers. Here’s a full review of Clubcard Plus, including details on how to get it.
Tesco Clubcard Prices
Tesco lets you use your Clubcard to access lower prices for selected groceries in-store and online. You don’t need any points on your Clubcard – you just need to have one.
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The best ways to spend Tesco Clubcard vouchers
There are actually hundreds of options, so we’ve scanned through them to find the best uses of your Clubcard points.
Charities
New to Clubcard is the choice to donate your points to food poverty charities Fareshare and The Trussell Trust. You can also give to the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research and Diabetes UK.
Sadly Tesco doesn’t boost these donations as they do with other offers, which I think is a shame. Still if you have at least 50p in vouchers you can swap them.
Disney +
You can swap £13.50 worth of points for a three month standard Disney+ subscription or £7.50 worth of points for a three month standard with ads subscription. Both new and existing Disney+ users can take advantage.
Fancy paying less when going to the zoo? A theme park? Museum? All these are available at a discount.
A lot of the “days out” used to be quadruple points and have been reduced to double – but they still represent decent value. It’s worth checking to see there isn’t a better offer out there, though one saving which is hard to beat is using your points for double credit towards an English Heritage or RHS membership.
You can use your points to get cut-price cinema tickets, again at double value. So 50p in vouchers will get you £1 to spend. It’s only for Cineworld or Picturehouse.
You can also use your points towards the Cineworld Unlimited pass.
If you regularly travel by train then a railcard can save you money every time you travel, and one of the cheapest ways to get one is using your Clubcard points.
You can trade £2.50 in vouchers to get £5 credit towards your railcard. It works for most types of railcard.
New Trading 212 customers get an increase of 0.72% AER to 5.07% for 12 months.
More details ▼
Additional Info
Existing Trading 212 customers get a rate of 4.5%
FSCS Protected?: Yes
Allows transfers in?: Yes
Flexible ISA?: Yes
▲
Bonus airline points
If you already save airline points, this is a great way to get more. You can convert your Clubcard points (with a minimum value of £1.50) to Virgin points at twice their value, that is 1 Clubcard point is worth 2 Virgin points.
There are often bonus offers when you sign up to auto-exchange your Clubcard points to Virgin points for the first time, so it’s a good idea to wait for one of those before setting up the auto-exchange.
Magazine subscriptions
You can convert a minimum of 50p in Clubcard vouchers to get a £1 voucher to go towards a subscription.
So if you wanted to sign up to a year of Empire completely (at a cost of £69.99) via Clubcard points you would need £34 in points, and top it up by another £1.99 from your bank account.
Of course you can get other subscriber deals elsewhere which give good discounts. A quick search for Empire shows you can pay £55, so the Clubcard deal really saves you just £21.
It’s a similar story for other magazines available via Clubcard, including Good Housekeeping, Elle, Garden Answers, Golf and Esquire.
This isn’t the best way to save on magazines though – you can get them for free! Read about our hack to get free digital magazines
Tesco Mobile bills
You can use your points to reduce the cost of your mobile bill. It’s only 1:1 rather than double, so you may as well use your points in-store.
At Tesco
There was a time, not too long ago, that you’d be a fool not to swap Clubcard points with a reward partner. But in the last few years the best offers have disappeared.
There are still lots of options, but whether they’re worth it comes down to two factors. One: Do you want or need what you’re swapping for? Two: Can you get that partner offer discounted elsewhere?
If it’s no for the first, or yes for the second, then you’re most probably better off using the points at Tesco – at least you’ll actually need food and drink!
Clubcard deals to avoid
Though you can save money by boosting your points in these areas, I think you can get similar savings elsewhere – meaning you should boost your points on the more valuable discounts listed above.
Restaurants
Even when these were 4x value, we advised that you could spend your points better elsewhere than at the chain restaurants included in Clubcard Boost. And now they are double instead, the deal is worse.
That’s because you can get decent discounts for the likes of Pizza Express and Bella Italia elsewhere. A simple google often brings up voucher codes for 40% off or two for one. Plus you can save at more places more often with a Tastecard trial.
So let’s say you’ve gone to Pizza Express and the final bill came to £30, it would have cost you £15 via Clubcard vouchers, or £15 via Tastecard or another voucher.
You may be able to double up these discounts though there’s no guarantee.
List of Tesco Clubcard restaurants:
Ask Italian
Bella Italia
Brew Dog Bars
Cafe Rouge
Chef & Brewer
Hungry Horse pubs
Pizza Express
Prezzo
Zizzi
Hotels
It’s similar with converting your Clubcard vouchers to spend on hotels. Though you can get double value on points to spend at Hotels.com and one or two other brands, you’re locked into booking direct with those websites, which might not offer the best rates available. We think you’re better off searching for the lowest prices elsewhere, and then using your points at one of the options above.
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 April 2025, the TV Licence is increasing by £5 a year, with the annual cost set to be £174.50.
This is the first inflation linked increase in three years, and that’ll continue until 2027. However, it won’t reverse years of underfunding thanks to zero or below inflation hikes, which led to budget cuts – and many would argue a lowering of quality in BBC output.
For some, this latest increase means they’ll advocate for people to 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?
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
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, Wimbledon, Ludwig and Outlaws (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 or Stranger Things haven’t come close.
Still, £175 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 £14.54 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 to £9 each month.
After clamping down on sharing, Netflix starts at £5.99 a month (with adverts), but the most popular package is £12.99 a month, working out at £15588 a year. You can pay more, at £18.99 a month for the top tier
And there are others like Paramount+ (£4.99 with ads, £7.99 or £10.99 a month without adverts), 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.
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What the Licence Fee pays for
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 £14.54 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 / £84 a year
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 / £42 a year
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 our Cash Chats show 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 £11.99 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 / £24 a year
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 £14.99 cost to watch Sky Sports for one day on NOW TV.
BBC News
My price £1 a month / £12 a year
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: 75p a month / £9 a year
Let’s say it costs 75p a month (£9 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: 29p a month / £3.50 a year
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).
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 – while also building ‘soft power’ across the globe.
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 29p a month towards all this (a total of £3.50 a year).
Money well spent or a waste of cash?
So just to quickly summarise, for me the £14.54 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)
75p a month for children’s TV (£9 a year)
29p a month for the innovations (£3.50 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
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.
However, much of what I see in these conversations is misinformed, and fuelled by media like the Mail and Murdoch’s News UK (The Times and The Sun), and the previous Conservative government, who all have vested interest in getting rid of the BBC.
So 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 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.
Pay less for your takeaways when you order in, including special codes for Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats
Getting a takeaway isn’t money-saving by any means, but if you are going to order one then it pays to find ways to bring down the total cost.
Below we’ve got a few tips to help you cut the price and some top deals.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
Ways to save money on takeaways
Go direct to the takeaway
You can often avoid the fees that come with Deliveroo and Uber Eats by ordering direct from the restaurant. You might even find items are cheaper too!
Collect your order
If that fails and you are happy to pop out you can often save on delivery charges by picking up your order yourself.
Obviously you can do this when you order direct, but you might also be able to combine it with discount codes via the main takeaway apps.
Look for discount codes
It’s often possible to get codes to bring down the cost of your order – especially if you’re a new customer.
Keep an eye on your emails and app notifications as you often get send special offers by the big takeaway brands.
I’ll list the best special offers I spot below.
Use cashback sites
A few of the big takeaway brands are on Quidco and TopCashback. You can earn money back on purchases from Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Just Eat, Dominos and Pizza Hut.
If you’ve not used those sites before you can also nab up to £17 back as a welcome bonus, on top of the cashback you’ll earn for your takeaway purchase. Here’s more on getting those bonuses.
Delete the apps
If you tend to regret ordering a takeaway, adding a bit of friction can help you buy them less often. The easiest way is to delete the apps. Doing this doesn’t stop you from ordering but it can take away temptation.
Just Eat discounts
Just Eat: £8 off
Until 30 April 2025, Just Eat is offering £8 off orders with the code APRIL8.
You need to spend £25 or more to use the code. There are thousands of participating restaurants, from locals to national chains like Five Guys and Pizza Express.
Every Tuesday selected restaurants are part of a 20% off deal with Just Eat. There’s a minimum spend of £15 and the discount will be automatically applied.
Your choices can be limited, but it all depends on where you live. It’s well worth checking.
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Deliveroo promo codes
Deliveroo: Delivery pass
You can pay either £3.49 or £7.99 a month to get free delivery, depending on the size of your order. If you’re tempted by this Deliveroo Plus subscription, make sure you check out this review to see if it’s worth it for you.
Amazon Prime members can add on a free year of Deliveroo Plus – but only the tier that gives free delivery on orders over £15. We’d definitely get this if you have Prime, but don’t be tempted to order more often, or spend more on orders, just to get free delivery.
Not got Amazon Prime? You can sign up here for a 30-day free trial, then £95 a year. If you cancel Prime you’ll lose your Deliveroo Plus membership.
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Existing Trading 212 customers get a rate of 4.5%
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Uber Eats promo codes
Check the app and your email for user specific codes that happen fairly regularly.
Free Uber Eats credit for NHS workers
Link your NHS/HSC email address to your Uber Eats account by 11.59pm on 20 December and get sent promo codes for free food and Uber rides on 23 December to be used over Christmas.
You’ll be able to claim £10 to spend on a meal or groceries via Uber Eats on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
And if you link your Uber account to your NHS/HSC email you can also claim two £10 Uber rides to or from work on the same days.
The best offers and promotions for credit cards from 0% interest through to introductory bonuses.
Used responsibly, credit cards can help you earn money on purchases, give you stronger consumer protections, make holidays cheaper, help you clear debts or spread the cost of a big purchase.
Everyone’s situation will be different, so these are just the best cards out there – you might have to settle for a shorter deal or lower rate of cashback.
This list is updated at least every month – check the published date to see when this last happened.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
The best cashback card welcome bonuses
When you’re opening a card, especially a cashback or rewards based card, it’s worth seeing if there’s a welcome offer. And even better, checking to see if it’s boosted.
Amazon: £30 welcome offer
Sign up for the new Amazon Barclaycard and you’ll get £30 in Amazon credit added to your Amazon account. After 7 April 2025 this will drop back down to £20.
You’ll also earn 1% at Amazon and 0.5% elsewhere, dropping to 0.25% after a year.
If you apply for a new John Lewis Partnership card you’ll get double points at John Lewis or Waitrose for the first 6 days, meaning you’ll get the equivalent of 2.5% back.
After this you’ll earn 1.25% back (5 points per £4 spent) in Waitrose or John Lewis. You’ll get 0.25% back (1 point per £5 spent) at all other retailers.
If you apply for a new Marks & Spencer credit card, you can get five points on M&S spending instead of one, for six months. Every £100 spent gets 500 points which works out as £5 as a voucher.
There is no closing date for this offer but the terms and conditions state it can be withdrawn at any time.
With the Barclaycard Platinum credit cards, you can get £15 cashback from Quidco when you apply and use the card within 90 days.
And on top of this Barclaycard will give £20 cashback if you spend £500 on the card once accepted. That part ends 6 February 2025.
The card itself offers up to 22 months of spending at 0%, and up to 19 months for a balance transfer, with a fee on the latter of 3.45%. If you use the card for purchases you must pay off at least the minimum each month, even though it’s at 0%.
Remember, even though you need to go via Quidco to get this offer, you should check your eligibility first on the Barclaycard site. If you decide to proceed with the application, close the Barclaycard website down, and start again via Quidco.
If you’re new to Quidco, you could get up to £20 as a welcome bonus as well, though you’ll need to you use this for other shopping as it requires a minimum spend.
Cashback sites Quidco and TopCashback offer between £20 and £30 to successful applicants for credit cards from Tesco, TSB, HSBC and Barclaycard. Rates can change, so check out both sites.
For balance transfer cards this could work out better than the no-fee option. So for example, the Barclaycard Platinum transfer fee is 0.9%. Transfer £2,222 or less and the cashback wipes out the fee.
These rates can change so it’s worth checking each site to see which pays first.
New to cashback sites? Get an additional bonus of up to £20
Quidco new members can get £20 when they spend £10, while TopCashback new members can get £20 when they spend £10. Find out how to get these bonuses
Check out the latest bank switching incentives, plus the current accounts with the best rewards, cheapest overdraft and highest interest.
Expired deals
Asda Money: up to £50 cashback (expired)
If you open a credit card with Asda Money by 6 January 2025 then you can get 5% back in your Asda Pounds in your first 60 days, up to £50.
You’ll also earn 0.75% on your Asda spend and 0.2% everywhere else.
This is only available for new customers, or those who’ve not had an Asda credit card in the last 12 months. You’ll need to stay within the terms of your credit agreement to get the Asda Pounds.
It’s worth noting that recent offers have paid more, with £50 or £100 available in cashback in 2024.
HSBC: 0% purchase card plus £60 cashback offer stack (expired)
With the HSBC Purchase Plus card, you can get £35 cashback from Quidco when you apply and use the card within 90 days. If you’re not on the Premium level of Quidco (£1 a month – more here), that this drops to £25.
And on top of this HSBC will give £25 cashback if you spend £100 on the card once accepted. That part ends 16 December 2024.
The card itself offers up to 20 months of spending at 0%, and up to 17 months for a balance transfer, with a fee on the latter of 3.49%. If you use the card for purchases you must pay off at least the minimum each month, even though it’s at 0%.
Remember, even though you need to go via Quidco to get this offer, you should check your eligibility first on the HSBC site. If you decide to proceed with the application, close the HSBC website down, and start again via Quidco.
If you’re new to Quidco, you could get up to £20 as a welcome bonus as well, though you’ll need to you use this for other shopping as it requires a minimum spend.
Virgin Atlantic Reward+: Up to 22,500 bonus points boost (ended)
If you collect Virgin Points rather than Avios, this offer until 4 March 2024 will earn you double the usual points on spending for two months.
Card
Fee
Requirement
Welcome bonus
Boosted points
Virgin Atlantic Reward+
£160 a year
Spend up to £5,000 before 14 April
15,000
Up to 7,500
You’ll get 15,000 points with your first purchase with this card, and then double points (so 3 per £1 rather than 1.5 on most spending, or 6 rather than 3 on Virgin Atlantic/Virgin Holiday payments) until you reach £5,000 or 14 April (whichever happens first).
This means the additional points you can earn is capped at 7,500 and a total of 22,500. After this you’ll get the standard 1.5 points per £1 on additional spending.
It’s worth noting the card is fee free abroad if you spend in Euros, Swedish Kronor or Romanian Lei within the EAA or UK. It doesn’t apply to cash withdrawals.
You’ll be eligible for the offer as long as you’ve not held this Virgin Atlantic card in the last six months. If you have the free version of the card you will be able to get this offer.
The offer ends on 4 March 2024.
Is it worth it?
It’s a decent boost, but sadly this is lower than the 34,500 points available from a similar offer that ran late Autumn 2023.
I had a quick look for an off peak flight in November 2024, and those points would be enough to get you a return ticket from London to New York via Virgin Atlantic, though you’d need to pay taxes of around £281 on top. That’s instead of paying cash of around £574. So in this case the points would be worth around £300.
Bear in mind there’s a £160 annual fee, and you won’t get a refund if you cancel it after getting the bonus, so the flight in the example above would actually have cost you £460. But that’s still a saving of £115ish.
There’s also a upgrade voucher to Premium or a 2-4-1 companion voucher if you spend £10,000 across a year.
Of course these calculations will vary by route, date and availability, and you might be able to pay less if you shopped around for other offers.
If you don’t want to use these towards flights you can redeem them at the Virgin Red site, including for train tickets or gift cards at Costa, Nike and Pizza Express. You’ll get half a penny (0.5p) per point, so those 22,500 points will be worth £112.50.
You can also swap for things like Virgin Wine and Gregg’s sausage rolls!
If you sign up for Yonder, you can get yourself 6 months free (usually £15 per month).
Yonder is a reward credit card that lets you earn points to dine out (mainly in London). Travel insurance is included. A nice draw is that it doesn’t necessarily check your credit report as it prioritises open banking data when making a decision on accepting or rejecting your application.
You don’t have to stick around after the free trial and cancel before the 6 months are up.
