Document and Entity Information (USD $) In Billions, except Share data, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Jun. 30, 2013	Feb. 07, 2014 Class A Ordinary Shares [Member]	Feb. 07, 2014 Class B Ordinary Shares [Member]	Feb. 07, 2014 Class C Ordinary Shares [Member]
Document and Entity Information [Line Items]
Entity Registrant Name	Liberty Global plc
Entity Central Index Key	0001570585
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Document Type	10-K
Document Period End Date	Dec. 31, 2013
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2013
Document Fiscal Period Focus	FY
Amendment Flag	false
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding (in shares)			222,111,115	10,147,184	161,089,629
Entity Well-known Seasoned Issuer	Yes
Entity Voluntary Filers	No
Entity Current Reporting Status	Yes
Entity Public Float		$ 27.3