The BBC has spent more than £6 million in the last year on ­letters warning about non-payment of the licence fee.

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It sent almost 28.6 million letters to unlicensed homes threatening £1,000 fines if the £147 charge went unpaid.

Costing 22p each, this means that the total cost of the operation in the past twelve months, where multiple letters are usually sent to the same home, is £6.29m.

The figures, obtained by The Sun in a Freedom of Information request, is 2.7million more than in 2014.

A TV Licensing spokeswoman told the paper that collection costs had fallen by 25 per cent since 2010/11 to just under 3p for every £1 collected.

“Letters are a cost effective way to get people to buy a licence,” she added.

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The TV licence rose from £145.50 to £147 in April.

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