UK Radio Licencing For Schools

In The United Kingdom, the use of all walkie-talkie radios, EXCEPT for those that meet a special licence-free standard, called "PMR446", will require some sort of licence from Ofcom.

These licences are not too expensive, nor are they difficult to obtain.

The "Simple UK" licence costs £75 and is valid for five years, and a school only requires one licence, no matter how many radios they own and use.

How Amherst Can Help You Sort Out Radio Licencing For Your School

When schools order walkie-talkies from us that NEED a radio licence, we can do their licence application with Ofcom on the school's behalf, if they want us to.

Do You Need a Radio Licence?

If you only purchase radios from our "Licence-Free PMR446" range, then you will not need a licence. All of this type of radio can only have 0.5 watts power output, which means a shorter range than the more powerful "licensable" radios.

BROWSE OUR RANGE OF LICENCE-FREE WALKIE-TALKIES

If you buy any of our more powerful walkie-talkies then you will require some sort of licence from Ofcom.

BROWSE OUR HIGHER-POWERED LICENCABLE WALKIE-TALKIES

The Different Types of Radio Licence Available From Ofcom

The first thing to know about UK radio licences is that an organisation (like your school!) only needs ONE licence to use a type of radio, no matter how many actual walkie-talkies they then buy and use. You don't have to pay more and more because you have 20, 50 or 100 walkie-talkie radios in use within one organisation.

Simple UK Radio Licence

The cheapest and simplest radio is the "Simple UK" licence, which costs £75 and is valid for five years.

This licence simply entitles the holder to use the more powerful licence-needed radios set to use a set of frequencies allocated to the Simple UK Licence.

If you want this kind of licence, we can send your radios out straight away, because we know what frequencies to program in to them.

You can also easily apply for your own licence using this Ofcom radio licence application form - download it here. You can just fill it in and send it off to Ofcom with the paymeny of £75.

Technically Assigned Licence (Exclusive Frequency)

This type of licence involves Ofcom assigning one or more frequencies for the private use of your school or institution.

These cost around £100 per year in most of the UK. In areas where radio spectrum is at a premium, such as London, the cost may be significantly more than this, £200, or even £500 per year.

Paying for an exclusive channel means that you should never hear anyone else on your radios. If someone else persistently misuses your paid-for frequency, you can ask Ofcom to investigate and stop them.

One down-side of having an exclusive channel is that your radios must only be used on this channel AT YOUR SCHOOL, so you cannot take them to other locations because "your channel" elsewhere will probably be "someone else's channel" and you would then be the intruder on their paid-for exclusive frequency.

If you want this type of licence, you will have to wait a week or two from when we apply on your behalf, until Ofcom tell us and you what frequency has been assigned, so we can correctly program your walkie-talkies to use your Ofcom-assigned frequency.

How Radio Licence Applications Are Done And Paid For

Radio users can apply for radio licences on OFCOM'S WEB SITE.

If you buy walkie-talkies from us that need a licence, and if you want us to do so, we will do the licence application on your behalf. Ofcom will then email or post you a "Request For Payment" which you then pay. We do not pay for your licence and then charge the cost back to you, so please do not include the cost of a licence on any Purchase Orders sent to us!