Public Lending Rights unchanged for 2013

The Public Lending Rights incomes have been frozen for this year.

The money paid out annually to writers in order to compensate for books loaned out from libraries will be at 6.2 pence per loan, the same amount as last year, with a top payment of £6,600.

Ed Vaizey, the Culture Minister and a man due to receive a 11% pay rise along with other fat cat MPs, confirmed recently that the amount allocated to the PLR scheme would remain unchanged.

Authors eligible for PLR will receive their statements in January and I, for one, can't bloody wait.

PLR STATEMENT 2013

The body that looks over the UK PLR scheme in which authors receive a payment each time one of their books is hired out from UK libraries today issued the following statement:

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced today that the Public Lending Right body will cease to exist as a separate organisation and responsibility for managing the PLR Scheme is to be transferred to the British Library. The post of Registrar will be abolished and the Registrar’s responsibilities will be taken over by the British Library board. The changes are expected to take effect from 1 October.

PLR staff, currently employed by the Registrar, will transfer over to the British Library and PLR will continue to be administered by the existing team from their offices in Stockton-on-Tees. Although the position of Registrar will disappear, the current Registrar will be retained by the British Library for an agreed period to help ensure a smooth handover.  

These changes in governance will have no impact on PLR as the right of authors to receive payment for the lending out of their books by public libraries. The PLR Scheme will continue to operate in the usual way after the transfer of responsibilities to the British Library. Authors should continue to register their books for UK and Irish PLR with the PLR office in Stockton.  

The government decision to abolish the PLR body follows a public consultation last year and completion of an Impact Assessment (see DCMS website) which identifies further savings in PLR’s administration costs that will be achievable as part of a larger body like the British Library. The British Library has also released astatement.

SAVE OUR PLR UPDATE

PD James, President of the Society of Authors, wrote to Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Culture, in early September, informing him about the petition against the proposed cuts in the PLR allowance and giving reasons why PLR ought to be maintained at its present level or thereabouts in the forthcoming spending review.

A copy of the response that PD James has received from Jeremy Hunt is posted below:
ear Baroness James
Thank you for your letter of 8 September about the Public Lending Right (PLR) enclosing a statement to which a number of authors have added their names.
I fully recognize the tremendous cultural, artistic and economic impact of writers in the UK and the Department understands the importance of the PLR to writers in this country.
As you know the Department must contribute to Government savings in order to address the financial deficit, and the wider cultural sector has a role towards this difficult end.  Wherever possible we will find savings through administrative efficiencies, which is the best way to minimise the direct impact upon practitioners such as writers who deliver culture on the frontline.
However, Government will not be able to make announcements about the Department's funding for the PLR until the outcome of the spending review is announced in the autumn.
With best wishes
Jeremy


THE PETITION CAN STILL BE SIGNED HERE

PLR UNDER THREAT

The writer's lifeline that is PLR is under threat in the latest wave of government cuts. Writers need to stick together and lobby their MP's on this vital matter - the petition referred to in the article below can be found HERE

Authors have been urged to petition the government in order to protect the Public Lending Right, a "significant and much-valued part of authors’ incomes".
The Society of Authors and the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society have written a petition for authors to sign at www.alcs.co.uk/petition. Authors are also being encouraged to contact their local MPs either by writing to them or by email supporting the case for PLR funding to be ring-fenced against further spending cuts.
Both organisations fear the right could be at risk due to budgetary pressures at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. According to the ALCS, if the fund is cut by 3% next year, it will mean that in real terms PLR funding will have fallen by more than 10% over the past three years. The SoA said PLR "gives effect to a legal right and is not a subsidy".

In a letter to its members, the Society of Authors' general secretary Mark Le Fanu said: "Our main aim is to demonstrate a high level of support for PLR and make Department of Culture Media and Sport aware that if it undermines a scheme that is particularly precious to writers there is likely to be a very strong reaction."

In a statement, the SoA said: "[Public lending right] provides working writers with a modest income when their books are read by library users free of charge. PLR is particularly important to authors whose books are sold mainly to libraries and to those whose books are no longer in print but are still being used."

"Press coverage tends to focus on a few successful authors, yet most struggle to make ends meet. PLR provides a significant and much-valued part of authors’ incomes. The £6,600 upper limit ensures that the fund helps those most in need."

The SoA said PLR costs DCMS £7.5m per year.