The rare occasion when a brown envelope lands on your doormat containing an unexpected refund instead of the usual demand for money can be a time for celebration.

But when retired Framlingham couple Tony and Anne Baldwin received their payback from the TV Licencing Authority on Tuesday their moment of joy was short-lived.

At just 4p, the paltry payment will not go far towards funding foreign holidays, luxury gifts or shopping sprees – and the sense of wastefulness at having deprived the licence-fee-payer of far more in administrative costs has left a bitter taste.

“It’s the bureaucracy side of things that really upset us,” said Mr Baldwin.

“That money is going to have to go from their bank to my bank, with all the charges that it brings and then there’s the postage on top of that – and you just wonder what it’s all about. It’s a farce – and it’s a ridiculous waste of money.”

Mr Baldwin had contacted the TV Licensing Authority to inform it he would be turning 75 next year and would therefore no longer be required to pay the fee.

The details were recorded and Mr Baldwin thought that would be the end of the matter. On Tuesday, however, the surprise package arrived, prompting a confused call to the TV Licensing Authority to seek explanation for his mystery refund.

A spokesman for the authority has since explained the refund was made due to the way monthly direct debits were structured. Because the £145.50 licence fee did not divide evenly by 12, the first payment was for a slightly larger amount. This meant that when Mr Baldwin arranged to stop paying halfway through the year, he had paid slightly too much and was owed the difference.

“We always pay any refunds due in full. In Mr Baldwin’s case, we issued an automatic refund because he had overpaid slightly for his licence, which now only needs to last until his 75th birthday,” the spokesman said.

Mrs Baldwin, however, was not satisfied by the explanation.

“It’s no use saying that’s our system – someone has got to really look at this,” she said. “It’s just so ineffective. It’s totally ludicrous to send us 4p when it must have cost so much more money to send it – and that’s really the crux of the matter. I don’t suppose anything will come of it, but we felt we had to make a stand.”

So what will they spend the 4p on?

“Our daughter lives in Canada, so we’ve put it down as a deposit on our next trip,” Mr Baldwin joked.